Rags' Blog

Holiday Alert! Build Customer Loyalty with Email Marketing

2011-10-26T14:51:00.000-07:00

The holidays are approaching fast, and now is the time to begin preparing your online marketing plans for the holiday rush. Part of that marketing plan should include Email Marketing, and if you have not treated yourself to an email marketing program this is a great time to start!

Email Marketing by Constant Contact® is the easy, effective, and highly affordable way to get your message out to your customers, clients, or members. You'll create high-impact, professional-looking emails—quickly and with no technical expertise. And, most importantly, you'll build strong connections with your audience that lead to referrals, repeat business and loyalty.

With Email Marketing by Constant Contact, you can:

Choose from more than 400 easily customized email templates—or create your own from scratch.
Create highly visual, professional-looking email newsletters and promotions in just minutes.
Drive more traffic to your website with focused, targeted email communications.
Build and manage your email list: import existing customer lists, add names individually, or capture contact information from website visitors.
Measure your email campaign results instantly-check click-through rates, review new subscribers, and see who opened and clicked on each link so you can tailor your follow-up communications.
Send automated communications to new sign-ups via our Autoresponder tool.
Communicate with your audience with confidence, knowing that Constant Contact will take care of getting your email delivered and keep you CAN-SPAM compliant.

Discover how the power of Email Marketing by Constant Contact can help you better connect with your customers, strengthen your relationships with them, and grow your organization.

Sign up for a FREE 60-Day Trial of Email Marketing today.
No risk. No obligation. No credit card.

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Widget Workshop

2011-10-26T14:29:00.000-07:00

Printwear Magazine, October 2011.

In the latest Internet Strategies column we explore Widgets and the many ways they can benefit your web site from the display of products and services to viral actions on social netowrking websites. Dive into the Widget Wilderness!

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Internet Marketing Calendar

2011-10-05T11:29:00.000-07:00

Last year in my Internet Strategies Column I suggested a Holiday Internet Marketing Calendar for keeping the holiday marketing efforts rolling out in a timely manner. This year I've decided to create a Google Calendar to share which will cover the entire calendar year. I will add events to it as they unfold should any new marketing opportunities come to my attention, so it will stay current throughout each year. Feel free to subscribe to this calendar or use it to modify and create your own!

And don't forget to utilize the great features Google Calendar has to offer such as sharing, email and text alerts and more to keep your scheduling on track!

Review: Google+

2011-09-22T14:55:00.000-07:00

Printwear Magazine, September 2011.

By now you've no doubt become aware of Google+, and may have even jumped in to test the waters. In the September issue of Printwear Magazine we discuss the possibilities of using Google+ in online marketing efforts and how Google+ may be shaping the social networking landscape.

Join me on Google+ here, and feel free to comment below!

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Keyword Management

2011-08-24T11:14:00.000-07:00

Printwear Magazine, August 2011.

Having strong keywords is clearly an important element in maintaining good search engine placement, but how can you manage those keywords to make the best use of them? How can you research what keywords are more effective than others? Read up on some tips and tricks to refine and tune your keywords in the August issue of Printwear Magazine.

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Your Customers Tell The Story: Online Testimonials

2011-07-15T15:31:00.000-07:00

Printwear Magazine, July 2011.

Of the many elements that can be effective without distracting from your goal of generating contacts or sales, customer testimonials can be a great asset for your site visitors to discover. You can devote an entire sub page to testimonials, or simply sprinkle them throughout your product pages as an added incentive for new visitors to establish trust in you. Have a look at the July Internet Strategies column and consider collecting testimonials for your web pages.

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Facebook: Disabling Facial Recognition

2011-06-08T19:22:00.000-07:00

Facebook recently added a facial recognition feature that has some people worried about their privacy and settings. In short, the feature will attempt to recognize faces in pictures when they are uploaded, then suggest that face be tagged should it recognize a face from that users friends list.

While it seems relatively harmless, some might decide to opt out of that feature. Heres how:

Disabling Facial Recognition

Log into Facebook.

In the top-right corner click on Account and go to Privacy Settings.

Click "customize settings" (toward the bottom-middle of your screen).

Look for the section titled "Things others share." The permission you accidentally gave Facebook to use facial recognition suggestions is located in the "Suggest photos of me to friends" option. Click on "Edit Settings" to change that.

Choose "Disabled" and then push "OK."

Marketing Mobility

2011-06-03T16:09:00.000-07:00

Printwear Magazine, June 2011.

Throughout our daily lives it has become easy to ignore the growth of the mobile market. Aside from tuning in our own mobile devices and cell phones the subject seems to be so common that perhaps we're ignoring some opportunities to market our businesses to the millions of mobile users who spend a significant amount of time online. In this Internet Strategies column we take a peek into Location Based Services such as Foursquare, and how you could be getting traffic through your shop doors through these online channels.

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Choose a Distinctive Domain

2011-04-19T13:36:00.000-07:00

Printwear Magazine, May 2011.

What's your dot com? One of the most common questions I get from those just entering the online world is "What are your suggestions for a domain name?", followed by the added follow up questions regarding .com, .net and more. This months Internet Strategies column addresses many of those questions as well as addressing issues that existing domain name owners should be aware of.

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Case Studies In Facebook Marketing

2011-03-05T15:07:00.000-08:00

Printwear Magazine, March 2011.

In the March issue of Printwear Magazine my Internet Strategies column brings Facebook once again back to the forefront of online marketing efforts. If you haven't explored the benefits Facebook has to offer you're no doubt falling behind the competition. Case studies include comments and experiences from ColDesi (previously SWF East) and Bonnie Landsberger, Moonlight Design Embroidery Digitizing.

In the April issue we will dive into specific marketing strategies from a Facebook perspective.

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After the read, you might enjoy the convenience of the following Facebook links:

Moonlight Design Embroidery Digitizing
ColDesi
Rags To Stitches Productions
Printwear Magazine

Free Guide: 42 Rules of Social Media

42 Rules of Social Media for Small Business' is the modern survival guide to effective social media communications and the answer to the question, “what do I do with social media?” From networking communication, to social branding, '42 Rules of Social Media for Small Business' addresses specific rules of engagement, as well as the fundamental approach to online, as opposed to traditional, media. As part of the 42 Rules series, this book is designed to quickly and effectively equip business professionals with the tools they need to generate an effective customer community through social media, that translates into customer loyalty, excitement for the brand, and return business that eventually generates a dedicated customer base and increased revenue. Free!

Faster Browsing: Back To Basic Google Image Search

2011-02-26T16:38:00.000-08:00

You must have noticed by now, Google has updated Google Image Search. Everyone will have their own opinions and preferences, and mine in particular are that the previous Google Image Search was much faster, easier to use and much less of a resource hog on my browser.

That being said, I thought I'd share a tip for those of you who agree with me.

1) To swith Google Image Search back to the basic version, conduct any image search and scroll down to the bottom of the page. There you will find a link that will switch you back to the basic version:

2) Rather than having to do that every time you are using Google Image Search, bookmark the page. You will then have quick access to a mush faster Google Image Search without loading all of the new scripts, bells and whistles.

Happy searching!

Optimize Google Product Search

2011-02-18T10:53:00.000-08:00

Printwear Magazine, February 2011.

Google Product Search is a great tool for online merchants to take advantage of, and in my February Internet Strategies column I thought I'd share some tips on how to get started, create and submit your data feed along with tips on how to optimize that feed in order to get the best results.

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After the read, you might enjoy the convenience of the following links:

Sample Feed
Submit Your Feed
Data Feeds Overview
Success Stories

Free Guide: Setting up the Right E-commerce Site for your Business

E-commerce systems can range from basic storefronts that simply manage email orders to complex systems integrated with multiple aspects of your business. To determine how you want to proceed, there are a few basic questions you need to answer about your E-commerce hosting and management. This will help you determine which providers to focus on during your search. Free!

Tricks to Get Emails Opened

2011-02-18T10:41:00.000-08:00

In the February 2011 issue of Printwear Magazine, Vince DiCecco shares some great advice on how to create effective emails that have a greater chance of being opened by your recipients. In past issues we've explored Email Marketing Services, and I've blogged about Tools For Email Marketing but I have yet to have touched base on email marketing strategies.

I highly recommend reading DiCecco's article as the tips and tricks he shares are what really makes email marketing effective.

Two thumbs up Vince!

Avoiding Scams: Be Smart On Facebook

2011-01-26T18:08:00.000-08:00

Recently I've had to drop a few friends on Facebook, despite the fact that we do know each other and connect from time to time. The main reason for this is their lack of practicing safe actions on Facebook.

For example, today two of my friends were tagged in someones photo. The comment on the photo was "o...k im really booorreed, come checkout my vids. - let me know what you think" with a shortened URL to click on. This is not the first time I've seen that exact phrase on others being tagged by phony Facebook accounts.

Out of curiosity (and to make myself feel better about being do skeptical about the issue) I copied the shortened link and plugged it into True URL to see what web site it really went to. Sure enough it pointed to a website called Fling.com:

"FLING.COM - World's Best Adult Personals for adult dating, search millions of adult personals from singles, couples, and swingers looking for fun, browse sexy photos, personals and more."

Clearly a few of my friends aren't looking into the users who send them friend requests, and as a result the scammers and phony account holders are allowed the use of my friends activity streams in order to pass their links through Facebook in a viral manner. Who knows what kind of possible malware, trojans or other possible attacks that web site may introduce to those clicking on the link?

For anyone reading this that have missed previous posts or articles on the subject, click here to review a few warnings I've shared in the past.

Play it safe and be smart!

New Web Site for Garrett Computer Services

2011-01-26T15:12:00.000-08:00

Garrett Computer Services is a customer oriented business with 18 years of professional experience in computer repair and data network design, implementation and management servicing the Texoma area of North Texas.

Garrett - clearly being fully capable of all things technical when it comes to computers - was in need of a strong web site to handle his online marketing with. When it comes to having a basic, informational web site rather than a full blown e-commerce enabled project I've been recommending WordPress enabled sites to clients looking for an affordable solution to going online as well as having a finished product they can maintain on their own. And that suited Garrett Computer Services perfectly.

The new web site features a welcoming home page that immediately tells visitors they've found the right place, and all the other web pages feature a contact form on the right hand side of each page to function as a call to action that requires no extra clicks of the mouse or searching to locate. Thus serving the purpose of turning visitors into contacts and leads no matter what services they may be exploring.

Using the WordPress Dashboard, Garrett can easily maintain and update his web pages through the simple text editing functions, as well as use the post feature to keep his clients updated with computer tips on a regular basis.

I'm happy to have helped Garrett Computer Services get their business online and hand them the keys to driving their new web site towards a successful online presence. Feel free to contact me if you're in need of the same!

Free White Paper: How Social Networking Can Support Engaged, Customer Centric Retailing

Learn how retailers can mine the data available in Social Networks to gain a look into the hot buttons and trigger points of millions of potential shoppers. The web birthed MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook and a new era was born – the age of Social Networking. The viral nature of social networks can enable a single person to trigger thousand or even millions of impressions. Free Download!

New Website for TLK Marketing

2011-01-26T13:38:00.000-08:00

Recently TLK Marketing Inc., Wheeling, IL contacted me after reading Turning Leads into Sales Through an Organized Website in my Internet Strategies column.

TLK provides everything from custom embroidery and chenille to screen printing, uniforms and ad specialty items and had been receiving plenty of inquiries asking "Where is your web site?"

When it comes to having a basic, informational web site rather than a full blown e-commerce enabled project I've been recommending WordPress enabled sites to clients looking for an affordable solution to going online as well as having a finished product they can maintain on their own.

Using the WordPress Dashboard TLK Marketing can assign user accounts to staff members who can be given simple tasks to keep the web site current, and with the simple text editing interface literally anyone can manage the web site content, images and updates.

I'm happy to have helped TLK Marketing get their business online and hand them the keys to driving their new web site towards a successful online presence. Feel free to contact me if you're in need of the same!

Free Magazine Subscription: Internet Retailer

Internet Retailer is America's #1 source of information on e-business strategies for retailers and direct merchants. The magazine also covers exclusive reports on the competitive, marketing and operational trends in e-retailing. If you are a store-based retailer, a cataloger, a virtual merchant or an e-business provider, Internet Retailer provides the information you need to make the most of your use of the internet as a retail sales channel, multi-channel integrator or a tool for supply-chain automation. Free Subscription!

Email Marketing Services

2011-01-14T13:15:00.000-08:00

Printwear Magazine, January 2011.

Although social networking and the good ole fashioned search engine strategies have been the norm these days, e-mail marketing still has a place in todays online promotional tools. In the January issue of Printwear we re-visit the subject and suggest one of the many e-mail marketing services that benefit any business in communicating and marketing online.

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EMail Marketing Made Easy

If you use email on a regular basis, you're probably already receiving E-Newsletters from some of the companies you do business with. And while there's a tremendous amount of variation out there regarding what constitutes an E-Newsletter (or "electronic newsletter" or "E-zine" or "email newsletter;" they're all the same thing), they do have certain elements in common.

First and foremost, E-Newsletters arrive in your inbox as email messages. The sending company writes the newsletter, drops it into a predetermined email format, and sends it to a list of people who receive it on the other end. There's a fair amount of technology that runs in the background to do this efficiently and effectively, but when you boil it all down, it's just an email sent to many people at once.

To dig a bit deeper, think of an E-Newsletter like an electronic magazine, with three principal pieces:

1. Content. The words themselves - what you write and how you write it.

2. Formatting and Layout. Like a magazine, an E-Newsletter has a consistent look from month to month for organizing and laying out the content. Fonts, graphics, sections, headings, links, etc., all come together to create the design and layout.

3. Delivery and List Management. Once the newsletter is assembled (content + layout), there needs to be a "machine" for sending it out to a predetermined list of people (your subscribers). The machine takes care of the logistics behind delivery. In addition to sending the newsletter out, that includes things like adding/removing names; managing bounced emails; sending automated messages to readers as they come on the list or make changes to their personal information; and collecting and reporting on data regarding reader behavior and preferences.

Taken together, these three elements make up an E-Newsletter.

Why publish an E-Newsletter?

"The cost of acquiring a new customer can be as much as 5 times the cost of keeping an old one." (source: Peppers and Rogers).

"A 5% increase in retention yields profit increases of 25 to 100 percent" (source: Bain and Co.)

"Permission e-mail campaigns are ten times more effective than direct mail campaigns." (source: IMT Strategies)

The results of this research and dozens of other studies add up to a simple conclusion: It's a lot more cost effective and profitable to grow your business by increasing revenue and referrals from existing customers, than it is to keep chasing strangers. If you've got a "house list" of business relationships, you've got an extremely valuable asset. An asset that a quality E-Newsletter is perfectly suited to take advantage of.

Specifically...

An E-Newsletter Increases Lead Generation And Cross Selling. As your newsletter arrives month after month, it keeps you top of mind with customers, prospects, partners and others, and provides an ongoing, low-key mechanism for highlighting your full range of products and services.

An E-Newsletter Increases Customer Lifetime Value. Competitors can buy their way into your market by matching your pricing, matching your products and even matching the look and feel of your company. What they can't buy are your relationships. Every newsletter that you send serves to solidify the connection between your company and your customers.

An E-Newsletter Provides A Low Cost, Instantaneous Channel For Sending Messages. Your database of email addresses gives you instant access to your customers and prospects. Once the machine is set up, in addition to sending an E-Newsletter, you can send alerts, advisories and messages as frequently as you wish.

An E-Newsletter Opens Up A Two-Way Dialogue With Customers And Prospects. E-Newsletters allow recipients to easily and immediately interact with you. Comments are made, information is requested, an exchange of ideas between you and your customers flows easily in both directions.

An E-Newsletter Hypercharges Your Existing Marketing Efforts. Your E-Newsletter doesn't compete with your web site, print newsletter or existing marketing materials. It leverages them. It creates a steady pulse and focus that ties your other marketing efforts together.

An E-Newsletter Provides Instant, Measurable Results. Advertising, sponsorships, and many other traditional marketing tactics offer few options for measuring the return on your investment. E-based tactics on the other hand, are instantly trackable. With each E-Newsletter you send, you'll know how many people opened it; how many links were clicked on; who clicked on which links; and more. Fact-based, real time metrics.

If you already send printed materials out to your contact list - whether as a print newsletter or in some other fashion - the most immediate and measurable benefit of switching to an electronic format is a savings in time, printing and mailing costs. With a variable cost per newsletter of nearly zero, you will never again have to weigh the benefits of printing more materials or agonize over whether or not person X is "worthy" of the cost of sending information.

What About SPAM and Privacy Concerns?

The hottest topic in email marketing today is SPAM. As corporations and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) work to control the amount of unsolicited email entering their systems, they may inadvertently filter out legitimate emails, including some E-Newsletters. In industry lingo, this type of error is known as a "false positive," and the result is that some emails sent to people who have requested them don't ever reach their destination.

But, let's put that into perspective. Even with SPAM's impact, a good E-Newsletter sent to your house list will still be opened by over 40% of the people it's sent to. Given typical response rates to traditional marketing tactics, that's as much as 40 times better than the percentage of people who read your newspaper ads; respond to your direct mail; or return your unsolicited phone calls.

The fact is, for the small business owner, an E-Newsletter represents the first time in history that we've ever been able to cost effectively communicate with our entire customer and prospect base over and over and over again. Not only that, but thanks to the inherently democratic nature of email (i.e. the big boys don't get any more space in the email inbox than the rest of us), an E-Newsletter gives us the opportunity to not just compete with, but outperform our much larger competitors for the attention of readers.

And so, while SPAM has certainly reduced some of the effectiveness of E-Newsletters in recent months, this remarkable tool is by no means past its prime.

How Much Time And Money Does It Require?

I hope that by now you're convinced of the value of an E-Newsletter for your business. The next logical question, of course, is how much does it cost in time and dollars?

The answer depends on a few things.

1. First of all, there's the content. The more you write by yourself from scratch - as opposed to compiling from other sources, or farming out to other writers - the more time it will take. Although it's less expensive to write original content, you'll want to assess whether you've got the resources in-house to put it all together each month.

2. Next, you'll want to consider design. For maximum effectiveness, your E-Newsletter should reflect your unique brand and style. While you can customize a standard template, your best results will be obtained by creating a look and feel that's just for you (i.e. using a professional designer).

3. Finally, there's monthly production: formatting the content and getting it out the door on a regular basis. Here too, you'll want to weigh the benefits of doing it yourself (less expensive) vs. hiring a firm such as mine to manage the details for you (less worry and error).

As a rule of thumb, if you do the work yourself, you should figure on two full days of work per newsletter - one day to develop the content; one day to manage the layout and delivery logistics. You should also count on the first newsletter taking an additional two or three days to develop the format and style.

Conclusion

Pound for pound, an E-Newsletter offers the small business owner an opportunity to reach out to customers and prospects in ways that were simply not possible just a few short years ago. Whether you do it yourself, farm out the entire process, or strike a balance in-between, this new tool is well worth adding to your repertoire.

Please check out Constant Contact to see how it can help you get started with an E-Newsletter. I have been using it and recommending it to anyone and everyone with an email marketing campaign.

Happy Holidays from Rags!

2010-12-24T05:57:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to blog out my best wishes to everyone for this holiday season! As usual, the Internet doesn't take holidays off and as a result, those of us wearing the webmaster hats either stay busy working or at the very least stay close to the computer in an "on call" status. However my family, closest friends and I are all in town and planning on a low key, eat a lot and watch football holiday break.

Chances are it will be next year before the blog gets another update. For those of you that are unaware of my new Facebook page, you might want to start following me there as I update that on a regular basis with news and updates on Internet Marketing from around the web.

Until then have a safe and happy holiday season and a wonderful New Years celebration!

Scratch That Niche! Niche Marketing

2010-12-23T13:10:00.000-08:00

Printwear Magazine, December 2010.

During your holiday break, be sure to take a little time to read the December issue of Printwear Magazine, where my Internet Strategies column makes suggestions on tackling niche markets. Although many apparel decorators offer so many products and services that a niche may not seem to fit in the balance of things, when it comes to Internet Marketing one can cover a variety of niche markets and target demographics with a little effort and organization.

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Free Guide: 5 Ways to Persuade your Target Audiences

Learn how Marketing Professionals are using BluePrinting technology with positive results. In today's connected world, a well managed Web presence is essential for any organization to achieve business success. The internet provides unprecedented opportunities for border-free communication. Many organizations use the internet to reach worldwide audiences. These organizations need to balance centralized messages and branding with localized content and contributions.

Download this free guide to learn how your business can convert conversations into actions, attract new followers, share information for potential customers and gain recognition. Free!

Turn Leads into Sales Through an Organized Website

2010-11-08T12:56:00.000-08:00

Printwear Magazine, November 2010.

It's a no-brainer that a well designed web site will produce more leads and sales than a plain vanilla Internet presence, but what exactly are the key elements of the design that generate the most leads and sales? In this months Internet Strategies column we take a look at those elements and how you can utilize them to increase the number of contacts coming from your web site.

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Free White Paper: 5 Ways to Persuade your Target Audiences.

In today's connected world, a well managed Web presence is essential for any organization to achieve business success. The internet provides unprecedented opportunities for border-free communication. Many organizations use the internet to reach worldwide audiences. These organizations need to balance centralized messages and branding with localized content and contributions. Learn how Marketing Professionals are using BluePrinting technology with positive results.

Register for this FREE guide and maximize your company's Return on Advertising Online! Free!

Capturing Leads: A Questionable Approach

2010-10-22T12:13:00.000-07:00

I recently submitted my column to Printwear on the subject of optimizing your web site for capturing leads. That will be in an upcoming issue before the end of the year. I have been reflecting on my comments and suggestions in that column this week, as I ran into what I consider to be a negative approach to capturing leads.

The long and short of it is this: Your web site a virtual door that leads visitors into your business. Therefore your home page and/or landing pages should be as friendly and welcoming as you are when a customer walks into your place of business. Naturally you'd greet them with kindness, introduce yourself and begin the process of giving them the best service possible. Hopefully you'll close the sale, if not you're sure to get a business card and/or information from them to follow up at a later date. Thus capturing a lead.

This week I saw an ad for sublimation equipment that caught my attention. I have been searching for another printing solution for my busy dart shirts web site. Having an hour or so free to research their products I was off to their web site to spend some time browsing the equipment, warranties, financing options, getting an idea of pricing etc...

My hour of research - as well as my interest in doing business with that company - ended within a minute and a half. Why?

Landing on their home page I was greeted with a few options to click on for their equipment, and a login box accompanied by a "register now" link. When I clicked on the equipment links I was redirected to a page telling me I must register before I can enter their web site. And that was the end of my interest as well as the time I spent at their web site.

That approach may make sense to some hardcore sales reps as the site immediately asks for the users contact information and details, but in my opinion it is forceful and disruptive if not damaging to that companies online sales efforts. Consider entering a physical location to shop for something and being greeted at the door by a sales rep who hands you a clipboard with a form to fill out providing all of your contact information before you're even greeted with a handshake. Imagine having to provide them that form before you could even take a glance at what they had to offer.

In my opinion capturing leads is a method blended in with courtesy and consideration for the customer, making them comfortable with providing their contact information and doing business with you. Forcing users to provide their personal information in order to capture leads is a bold, car salesman type of approach that in the end could be detrimental to business.

That's my two cents anyway...

Websites through WordPress

2010-10-06T14:03:00.000-07:00

Printwear Magazine, October 2010.

For businesses that need to have control over their own web content - or simply need a do it yourself solution to getting online - WordPress has the tools available to create a great looking, functional web site on a budget. It's easy to use dashboard and interface make web site maintenance easy enough for a grade school student to handle. Check out the details in this months issue of Printwear Magazine.

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Free Guide: Insider's Guide to Internet Marketing: Get. Convert. Measure.

Websites dominate all media in the 21st century as the most effective way to reach new leads and attract new customers and sales. Coordinating multiple facets of online advertising to maximize Return on Advertising (ROA) is called Multilateral Online Marketing (MOM), a new industry term coined by Fathom SEO that more accurately expresses what it takes to succeed online – coordinating multiple programs that can efficiently reach the right target audience when diverse disciplines work well together. This guide explains 3 core steps to a successful online marketing initiative:

* Get traffic
* Convert visitors
* Measure revenue drivers

Register for this FREE guide and maximize your company's Return on Advertising Online! Free!

New Web Site: Wesley Christian Preschool

2010-09-24T15:14:00.000-07:00

I recently finished up a quick web site for Wesley Christian Preschool which is a perfect example of how a small business can use WordPress as a do it yourself tool for managing your online presence. Although WordPress was designed for blogging, when utilized correctly it can be a great platform for creating a fully functional and effective website.

I've been recommending WordPress to clients who have the need for maintaining their own web site for several reasons. The benefit of maintaining the site themselves clearly eliminates the need for calling me - and paying me - to make any changes when necessary. It also provides them with the tools to post current news about their business, keep their customers informed, blog and connect through their social networks.

In this particular case, Karen and her administrative assistant were having issues with editing and maintaining their web site through their previous setup. As you can see below, their WordPress dashboard is as easy to use as a word processor. Now Karen and Nikki can spend their time doing what they do best at Wesley Christian Preschool and easily keep their web site up to date through this new method.

Feel free to contact me if you're business is ready to go online in a affordable and reliable way, creating a web presence that you can take over after development and drive from the seat of your own home or office.

Getting OUT of the CafePress Marketplace

2010-09-23T11:37:00.000-07:00

CafePress Shopkeepers will no doubt recall their decision to change the marketplace. I recall the chaos in the forums as I was very active there at the time, and my advice to everyone was simple. Opt out of the marketplace.

This meant making sure none of you images were tagged at all, and that you had opted out through your shops settings. As it happens I've discovered there can be a flaw so I wanted to bring it to shopkeepers' attention.

I left one - just one - bumper sticker tagged which made it available in the marketplace. The bumper sticker includes mydartshirts.com under the design, so I thought maybe that would be some way of reaching the marketplace without actually being in the marketplace. Ever since I've removed all the tags from my images and opted out of the marketplace things have been fine. Until this week...

Two straight days this week I received notification for sales from the marketplace for a total of 11 shirts. The designs were NOT tagged nor am I opted into the marketplace. I just don't know how I'm going to spend the $18 and change CafePress seems to think my work is valued to be. I sell 11 shirts and I get less than a Jackson?

How can this happen? Naturally I went off to investigate...

To see if any of your designs are tagged at all, type in your shop URL with the following modification:

http://www.cafepress.com/sk/yourshop

By doing that I discovered that visitors shopping the marketplace can easily wind up on that page, and even if you only have one design tagged they can discover your shop and purchase anything. Armed with the discounted CafePress marketplace cookie that pushes then through as a marketplace sale.

So... Shopkeepers check your status by using the URL with that /sk inserted and double check your designs. You may think you're unreachable from the marketplace and find out otherwise.

Free Workshop: Getting Started with Constant Contact

2010-09-16T19:50:00.000-07:00

Constant Contact guru and Regional Development Director Lisa Sparks will present "Social Media Marketing Made Simple" in a free two-hour workshop coming to Florida.

For Those with 60-Day Trials Only! "Getting Started with Constant Contact"

Note This workshop for ONLY for those people who already have a Constant Contact FREE 60-day trial account. If you don't have a trial account, please set-up here before you register to attend this event.

Getting Started with Constant Contact (Learn how the system works!)

More than 350,000 businesses use Constant Contact to help grow their business! This workshop will help you create and enhance your first email marketing campaigns - we'll provide tips, techniques and guide you through the tools and features in the Constant Contact system.

You'll learn to:

Set up your account options

Build and manage your contacts

Create great looking emails

Brand your emails to match your website

Work with images

Analyze email reports to maximize results

Text editing

Other great shortcuts and tips!

NOTE: You do not need to bring a laptop, though you are welcome to for note taking.

Miami Beach (choose either the morning or afternoon session)
Tuesday, September 21
10 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Cost: $0 (Please bring your business card.)

or

1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Cost: $0 (Please bring your business card.)

The Mondrian Hotel
1100 West Avenue
Miami Beach, FL 33139-4760

Parking: Valet discounted to $15. Parking garage on corner of 10th and West just across from the Mondrian Hotel and on-street parking.
Click here to register

Fort Lauderdale
Tuesday, July 27
4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Cost: $0

Hampton Inn Downtown Fort Lauderdale
250 North Andrews Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
Click here to register

Marked Down: 911 Tribute Embroidery Design "Let Freedom Ring"

2010-09-08T18:29:00.000-07:00

This weekend will once again bring the anniversary of September 11. I have marked down my 911 Tribute Embroidery Design "Let Freedom Ring" to $19.11 to give embroiderers the chance to add this one to their collection.

Original Artwork :: Scanned Sewout

This design was very popular with both embroiderers and distributors not only for its content and attention to detail, but due to its run-ability. Distributors particularly enjoyed using this at trade shows as the design would simply chug along at full speed on their embroidery machines with no thread breaks and very little stops and color changes, giving them the opportunity to chat with the visitors in their booth rather than tend to the machines all day.

The Let Freedom Ring 911 Tribute design is also available on shirts, gifts and keepsake merchandise. I hope many of you will take this opportunity to pick up this design and enjoy embellishing any special garments and gifts for your customers as well as yourself.

Let Freedom Ring.

Holiday Marketing

2010-09-07T13:11:00.000-07:00

Printwear Magazine, September 2010.

As we approach the last quarter and feel the Holiday season approaching, now is the time to begin planning your Internet Marketing strategies for the 2010 Holiday season. This issue of Printwear suggests a few ways to approach your marketing plan and includes a calendar of events to follow and kwwp your campaign on track.

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Free Guide: Insider's Guide to Internet Marketing: Get. Convert. Measure.

Websites dominate all media in the 21st century as the most effective way to reach new leads and attract new customers and sales. Coordinating multiple facets of online advertising to maximize Return on Advertising (ROA) is called Multilateral Online Marketing (MOM), a new industry term coined by Fathom SEO that more accurately expresses what it takes to succeed online – coordinating multiple programs that can efficiently reach the right target audience when diverse disciplines work well together. This guide explains 3 core steps to a successful online marketing initiative:

* Get traffic
* Convert visitors
* Measure revenue drivers

Register for this FREE guide and maximize your company's Return on Advertising Online! Free!

Understanding Google PageRank: A Graphical Guide

2010-08-09T15:12:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the gang over at ZippyCart, a graphical look at Google PageRank:

[Via: ZippyCart Shopping Cart Reviews]

View Larger Image and Get the Embed Code to Add This Infographic to Your Site.

Free Guide: How To Build Your Page Rank

Discover why Search Engine Optimization is one of the fastest growing advertising strategies in online marketing. With this guide, you'll learn how SEO can work for your business and bring your web presence to the number one spot for top engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Free!

SERPs Strategies

2010-08-04T19:12:00.000-07:00

Printwear Magazine, August 2010.

There are three basic elements that can be managed and fine-tuned to get your website rising to the top of the SERPs (search engine results page) and get your business more online exposure. In the August issue of Printwear we discuss these web site tweaks that should provide a great foundation for building your rankings on.

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Free Guide: How To Build Your Page Rank

Discover why Search Engine Optimization is one of the fastest growing advertising strategies in online marketing. With this guide, you'll learn how SEO can work for your business and bring your web presence to the number one spot for top engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Free!

Share With Everyone

2010-07-14T15:48:00.000-07:00

Printwear Magazine, July 2010.

Did you know that sharing has recently been reported to have been responsible for about one third of the amount of traffic generated by search engines? Users simply pressing the Facebook "Like" button and other sharing tools online to share web pages, products and services with their friends and colleagues on social networks has become quite a beneficial wave for Internet Marketing. Have you provided your visitors with the means to share your content quickly and easily? Find out more in the July 2010 issue of Printwear Magazine.

Helpful links from this article:

Add This (Scroll down for video tutorial)
TweetMeme Retweet Button
Facebook Share Button
Networked Blogs
Share This
Wibiya Toolbar (See this in action at the bottom of this blog)

The comments section is open for sharing your thoughts, opinions, success stories or whatever else you'd like to share!

The miracle is this: The more we share, the more we have. ~ Leanord Nimoy

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Free Guide: Ten Innovative Ways to Use Twitter for Business

Download this free guide to learn how your business can convert conversations into actions, attract new followers, share information for potential customers and gain recognition. Free!

Pay Per Click Advertising

2010-07-14T15:30:00.000-07:00

Printwear Magazine, June 2010.

Although I've covered Pay Per Click Advertising in previous issues and blog posts, I recently discovered first hand the power of Pay Per Click Advertising through social networks. Long story short, social networks have a distinct advantage over other Pay Per Click Advertising programs due to the fact that they can broadcast your promotion to a targeted audience. Care to advertise directly to people in certain geographical areas? How about a certain age group? Let's not forget about targeting an ad campaign towards users with a common interest!

Check out my short adventure in Pay Per Click Advertising in the June 2010 issue of Printwear Magazine, the comments section is open for further discussion and to share your success story.

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Click To Call Mobile

2010-05-10T12:24:00.000-07:00

Printwear Magazine, May 2010.

As mobile technology continues to grow into Internet connectivity and functionality, statistics are showing that many Internet users are reaching for their mobile devices rather than their keyboards to search for goods and services online. Where does your business fall into those search results and if it does, is your web site prepared for displaying correctly on a mobile device? Whatabout businesses that don't have a web site but would still like to be found through mobile searches? Click To Call Mobile offers solutions that are affordable and effective. Check out the details in the May Internet Strategies column of Printwear, the comments section is open for further discussion.

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Just the FAQ's Maam'

2010-04-13T13:50:00.000-07:00

Printwear Magazine, April 2010.

In the April 2010 Internet Strategies column we discover the benefits of having an FAQ page for your web site (Frequently Asked Questions). FAQ's not only educate your web site visitors and existing clients, you'd be surprised how they can boost your exposure online through the simple addition of keywords and good copy. Have any questions? Go check out this months column and find the answers! If they're not there the comments section is open for further discussion.

Subscribe to Printwear Magazine

The 2010 NBM Show

2010-04-13T13:42:00.000-07:00

If you haven't registered for The NBM Show yet I'd suggest getting to it soon! I am looking forward to a full Saturday there myself as I haven't been over the last few years. In addition to the great educational seminars the show floor itself will be packed with tools of the trade, garments, new technologies and of course the friendly faces of our colleagues in the industry.

What's even more exciting is getting back to Fort Worth for a visit! There are several great places to go and things to do within walking distance of the Convention Center, and if you stay busy networking during the show you'll easily find a crew of people planning a get together for some after show shenanigans.

Despite a short and optimistic visit to the Harley Davidson dealer recently, I maintained control of my urge for a new scooter in hopes to score a new DTG Printer this year. I reckon with that I can go back and get the new bike later with a better chance at handling the payments!

If you're in the DFW area or even a few hours drive away the weather is wonderful this time of year and the show should be a great one to attend. Visit the The NBM Show Web Site for a list of exhibitors, video highlights from last year and online registration. Hope to see ya there!

Socially Searchable

2010-03-20T09:44:00.000-07:00

Printwear Magazine, March 2010.

The Internet Strategies column for Printwear March 2010 sheds some light on Google Social Search, which helps users find more relevant public content from a broader social circle. Check out the column and the video below, and then make time to get yourself Socially Searchable.

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Free Guide: OPTIMIZE ONLINE - How To Build Your Page Rank

This guide will teach you how to partner with reputable websites to bring up your page rank, find keywords to reach your market, and why blogging is important to double or triple your traffic in just weeks. Your website is only a few clicks away from mass exposure on the world wide web. Free!

Are Your Social Networking Updates Keyword Friendly?

2010-03-10T05:04:00.000-08:00

Are you aware that your status updates from many Social Networks are now appearing in real time search results from the top search engines? If not, now that you do know you might bear in mind that posting some keyword friendly updates throughout the day could be beneficial.

Here's a brief look at what's been happening:

Google leads the pack with results from groups, companies, celebrities and fan pages from Facebook. Twitter has of course led the way in terms of hitting Googles real time search results, and MySpace is now included as well as FriendFeed. Throw in the new release of Google Buzz and they've just about tackled all the real time Internet activity you can imagine surfing through.

Bing has secured a partnership to provide the on-site search engine for Facebook. Bing is bringing tweets to their search results but according to my research they have not yet started to include updates from Facebook or other networks, although clearly public updates from Facebook will soon be included. You should note that only the status updates that are visible to everyone within your Facebook Fan Page privacy settings will be included in the search results from Bing.

Yahoo search results contain updates from Twitter... I could go on but this isn't about the techy details.

What is it about?

As I've mentioned many times in regards to Do-It-Yourself Internet Marketing, it's not about getting visitors in the billions to your web site and Social Networking sites. It's about getting as many qualified visitors as you can if you want to really generate sales. Having seen how the search engines are beginning to treat real time updates within their search results, I see an opportunity to find qualified fans to visit your Facebook Fan Page, qualified followers to hit you up on Twitter and overall a qualified audience in terms of marketing within your Social Networks.

Which of course brings me back to the title of this blog post. Are Your Social Networking Updates Keyword Friendly?

Another Thumbs Up for HootSuite

2010-03-04T19:44:00.000-08:00

Back in November 09 HootSuite added some great features to their super useful service for managing Twitter accounts. I've recommended HootSuite in the past along with a handful of other options, but after using these new features for a few months I think I'm comfortable with HootSuite on a whole new level. Now in addition to managing multiple Twitter accounts and having the ability to import up to five RSS feeds per account, the following features have made busy days quick and easy when it comes to Social Networking tasks.

Support for Twitter Lists

In October 09 Twitter integrated a great feature called Twitter Lists. Using that feature you can organize those you follow into categories. With HootSuite now supporting the lists you can create tabs and/or columns for following Twitter users in a much more organized manner and in a lot less time.

Support for Facebook and LinkedIn

With Facebook and LinkedIn tuned in you can now create columns for these networks, read your friends’ status updates and update multiple Facebook accounts. The Facebook integration also offers in-line commenting. I find this a huge time saver as I can check in on My Dart Shirts Fan Page, Dart League Fan Page, Profile and LinkedIn all while doing the daily task of logging in to update my Twitter accounts.

Log In Once, Update Them All

To sum things up, MySpace now offers you the ability to have your Twitter feed update your status on your MySpace Profile through RSS. With that feature enabled and a quick login at HootSuite consider how quickly and easily you can update your Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, MySpace status and LinkedIn all within a few keystrokes and clicks! Then easily browse through your tabs and columns faster to read up on all of the Social Networks you follow.

I've found these new features to be an absolute time saver on a daily basis. And despite this being old news as things travel online, I wanted to give it a full test drive before blogging away about it. The comments are open for discussion, way to go HootSuite!

Free Guide: Twitter: Best Practices and Tips

If you've felt like tweeting for quite some time now, but didn't know where to start, this guide is for you. In over forty pages this guide tackles every Twitter feature, tip and trick you can think of. Learn to work the interface, to Tweet from your desktop, cool Twitter bots and which people to follow. Free!

Are You Buzzin' Yet?

2010-03-01T00:42:00.000-08:00

Facebook Fraud: The New 419 Scam?

2010-02-11T17:05:00.000-08:00

I had to raise an eyebrow last night when I caught the late night news report about a Local Radio Host Scammed By Facebook Fraud. Reason being I recently submitted an article for my Internet Strategies column on the very subject of protecting yourself online, and within the column I covered the very Facebook scam that this individual fell for.

You have to wonder how these scammers can be so clever as to get into your private account considering the majority of these criminals that have been caught or scammed themselves are about as smart as a sack of hammers.

Clearly everyone will recommend changing your password often or using something clever. In addition I suggest the less Facebook shenanigans you click through, the less chances of inadvertently going somewhere you shouldn't be. I say that not only as an alert to privacy but also to help avoid all of those crazy viruses you see popping up from time to time. By shenanigans I mean hitting ignore when you get requests to play a game, upload your picture to an application to add a ribbon to it or install an application that allows you to change Facebook to the old version. Be critical of the things you play with on Facebook and the better off you'll be.

And on the subject of passwords, be sensible. If you're using your cats name as a password and you have publicly posted "I love my cat Fuzzy Paws", it shouldn't be too hard for a crook to give that a shot at your login. During a recent password audit at a company, it was found that a receptionist was using the following password:

"MickeyMinniePlutoHueyLouieDeweyDonaldGoofySacramento"

When asked why she had such a long password, she said she was told that it had to be at least 8 characters long and include at least one capital.

Okay that's not true (I think) but you get the idea. Be aware on Facebook and approach the fun and games part of it with caution. I've heard the chat module has been manipulated to obtain access to accounts therefore I keep it turned off. I try to avoid clicking on antything without close scrutiny such as video links that do not go to a known video site (YouTube for example) or external links that have been shortened (for example: http://tinyurl/123456789).

Be safe so you won't be sorry and if any of your friends send you a message asking you to wire money, pick up the phone and check it out with that friend or do what you can to send the scammer on a safari in search of money you never sent. Sometimes scamming the scammer can be very entertaining.

Twitter Marketing

2010-02-11T16:16:00.000-08:00

Printwear Magazine, February 2010.

Although it may seem that the Twitter subject has been beaten to death in 140 characters or less, this issue includes tips and tricks for those just starting to explore the marketing aspects Twitter has to offer as well as some interesting suggestions for experienced users. The links below should provide some click-and-get-busy goodness for you after reading this months column. The comments section is open for questions, suggestions and discussion!

Happy Tweeting!

HootSuite
FlashTweet
Friend or Follow
MassFollow.com
Twitter Karma
Follow/Un-Follow Manager

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Free Guide: Ten Innovative Ways to Use Twitter for Business

Download this free guide to learn how your business can convert conversations into actions, attract new followers, share information for potential customers and gain recognition. Free!

Worldwide Marketing Gone Local

2010-02-11T16:06:00.000-08:00

Printwear Magazine, January 2010.

While many businesses enjoy a worldwide audience, there are millions who do not reach beyond their own geographical area. Whether the business is a brick and mortar storefront or a home based entity, many tend to ignore what the Internet has to offer for marketing even on a local basis. Quite simply it becomes targeting your audience through online marketing techniques, and this issue shows you how.

Subscribe to Printwear Magazine

Free Guide: 8 Surefire Strategies for Monetizing Your B2B Website

Discover how to maximize your revenue potential by utilizing the traffic you already have. This guide presents specific strategies for easily converting the traffic you have today into significant, reliable revenue for your site. Free!

The More Things Change

2010-02-11T15:55:00.000-08:00

Promowear Magazine, November/December 2009.

I found it ironic that the title of this article "The More Things Change" along with the subject of approaching new horizons in 2010 landed in the issue that marked a change for Promowear Magazine. As the year 2009 came to an end, Promowear and sister publication Printwear adapted to change for 2010 by combining the two into one publication.

In this final issue for Promowear the column serves as a reminder to use social networking as a part of your Internet Marketing Strategies, as the social networking landscape has indeed brought change to the Internet as a whole over the last several years.

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Shirly Cooks A Lot

2010-02-11T15:46:00.000-08:00

Promowear Magazine, September/October 2009.

In the quest for some automated marketing activities on Twitter, in this issue of Promowear I introduce Shirly Cooksalot. Shirly enjoys all aspects of the culinary world and Tweets about it regularly to gain the attention of a qualified audience.

RSS Mix provides an easy online tool for using after reading this column. The comments section is open for comments, questions and discussion!

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Online Article Marketing

2009-07-15T13:31:00.000-07:00

Promowear Magazine, July/August 2009.

In this issue of Promowear we explore the avenue of marketing through writing and submitting articles to online distribution web sites. Here are a few links to browse through after reading the article. I recommend reading through a few articles - your choice of subject - to get a feel for the content that makes article marketing successful. Keep in mind the use of keywords and good headlines.

EzineArticles.com

Article Alley

Article Dashboard

GoArticles.com

Idea Marketers

You may also want to read Article Marketing and Article Writing Tips and consider their free e-zine download for more tips and tricks.

Good luck!

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From Trash To Twitter

2009-07-04T17:18:00.000-07:00

News from Canada rarely crosses my desktop here in Texas, however recently a fellow dart player from Toronto alerted me to the garbage situation up there. Apparently there's a garbage strike going on and no signs of a speedy resolution. As a result trash is piling up on residents and businesses.

This fellow dart player - Roofer Dave - threw a concept and a question to some of us on a darts forum. He picked up www.fivebucksabag.com and wanted to know how to get the word out.

My suggestion was that a business like garbage collection would be able to utilize Twitter as more of an online marketing tool than a web site. No doubt the web site itself is important, but given the nature of the business consider how Twitter can benefit Dave's new service. He can literally Tweet his location, where he is on route and have users Tweet to him if they are in need of a pick up. Other Twitter users will eventually catch on and follow and before you know it, Dave can run this business from his cell phone during his route rather than having to rely on checking email and updating the web site (or hiring someone to do so).

I thought I'd throw this here on the blog as an example of how some businesses can use Twitter effectively, as well as to alert any readers from the Toronto area about this new service.

To find out more check in at www.fivebucksabag.com or follow @fivebucksabag on Twitter.

For Immediate Release:
July 4, 2009
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

As many residents of Toronto face the challenges that the current garbage strike has left them, one man has taken a new approach to a solution. Roofer Dave of Toronto has suspended his regular business tasks, and now offers residents a way to get rid of their trash in a safe and environmentally friendly way. Trash is collected for merely five dollars per twenty pound bag and taken to licenced disposal facilities for disposal (NOT THE CITY TEMPORARY DUMP SITES) Dave's plan is to ease the pain residents are feeling not add to it. According to Roofer Dave, "We are currently working on recycling efforts to divert as much as we can from land fills. We will have more on this as facilities get back to us." Finding Roofer Dave on his route is easy, simply follow @fivebucksabag on Twitter to see where and when he may be in your neighbourhood or contact him through his web site at www.fivebucksabag.com.

Generating a YouTube RSS Feed

2009-05-30T14:41:00.000-07:00

I recently stumbled across a great tip on how to generate an RSS feed from YouTube.

YouTube has RSS feeds however they do not make them easily available. You can create a feed for your channel, your favorite channel or even have one generated by keywords.

Here are a couple of example feeds I created for myself:

1) Feed for videos tagged with "darts":

http://youtube.com/rss/tag/darts.rss

2) Feed from my favorite YouTube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/rss/user/crackingdarts/videos.rss

3) Feed for Internet Marketing Videos

http://youtube.com/rss/tag/internet+marketing.rss

As you can see, by modifying the string you can create an RSS feed for virtually any topic. If you market your business on YouTube you can push the information using your feed. If you are looking for ineteresting web content for your blog or web site you can create a custom feed to update on it's own that interests your visitors. You can also plug the feed into Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites.

Here are the strings in plain text you can use to copy and paste, creating your own YouTube RSS feeds. Simply change the words in all caps to the elements you'd like to use:

Videos by tag:

http://youtube.com/rss/tag/TAG.rss

Videos by multiple tags:

http://youtube.com/rss/tag/TAG1+TAG2.rss

Videos by channel:

http://www.youtube.com/rss/user/USERNAME/videos.rss

Why is the @ character ignored in search queries?

2009-05-25T12:25:00.000-07:00

In the past I've heard many related questions. Can I use the @ sign in my domain name? I use the @ sign in my branding but why do the search engines don't seem to pick it up? With Twitter's increase in popularity and use of the @ character when addressing a Twitter user even more questions are bouncing around.

I experimented with this following yesterday's Indy 500 and entered a Google search for @danicapatrick (who finished a solid third), @h3lio (3rd time Indy 500 winner Helio Castronevez) and @TonyKanaan (current points leader who met the wall hard at 198mph suffering a DNF for the second straight year at The Brickyard).

The query produced the same results as a search for these drivers without the @ character, while WebMynd for FireFox produced a list of kudos and congrats from Indy Racing Fans across the Twittersphere. With the exception of Helio who uses the number 3 from his Team Penske Dallara/Honda in his Twitter name, the @ character was virtually ignored.

Google of course has their own answers to this in this short video.

Marketing On Twitter

2009-05-12T14:38:00.000-07:00

Promowear Magazine, May/June 2009.

This months issue is directed at readers who have not discovered Twitter yet, or have but aren't aware of the marketing opportunities that go with it.

Twitter Basics

If you are brand new to Twitter I suggest you jump to Getting Started With Twitter, then returning to this post to continue.

Twitter Tools

After reading the article a Google search can provide you with hundreds of applications and tools to help you utilize Twitter to your liking, as well as search and review Tweets and MicroBlogs for your target audience and interests. Below are a handful of them that can provide anyone a fresh start.

Twitter Search Search Tool
TweetFind Another Search Tool
TweetScan Another Search Tool
Twellow The Twitter Yellow Pages
Twitter Counter Twitter Stats
Please ReTweet Me Good Tool For Getting ReTweeted
Tweet Sum Manage Your Followers
We Follow A User Powered Twitter Directory
HootSuite Manage Multiple Twitter Accounts
Tweet Later Autoresponder & Setup Automatic Tweets

Follow me on Twitter @Webmster_Rags or follow my blog as I will be offering more Twitter tips and tricks in the future.

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Free Guide: Twitter: Best Practices and Tips

If you've felt like tweeting for quite some time now, but didn't know where to start, this guide is for you. In over forty pages this guide tackles every Twitter feature, tip and trick you can think of. Learn to work the interface, to Tweet from your desktop, cool Twitter bots and which people to follow. Free!

5 Creative Ways To Drive Traffic To Your Website

2009-05-08T16:51:00.000-07:00

There are many ways to direct qualified buyers to your website, and I see many website owners missing those opportunities. It seems that the simple phrase SEO (Search Engine Optimization) has either intimidated them or has them distracted from the variety of other avenues available for promoting their websites.

I recently posted some advice and suggestions in an online forum, and I received many private messages with positive feedback as a result. After reading through my post again I realized it is something I should elaborate on and share here on the blog.

1) Create and Submit iGoogle Desktop Themes

Internet users who utilize iGoogle enjoy the desktop themes, widgets and the many features that go along with it. By creating iGoogle desktop themes and branding them with your web site URL you can expose your website to thousands of Internet users. You can also put links to the themes on your web site to offer them to your customers, or those browsing and not buying that particular day.

I created a darts theme last year to promote my dart shirts web site. Currently over 2,000 people are using it (they give you a counter that stays current). I've seen the number of users as high as 4,500+ before. Considering that is just one theme and a small number of potential iGoogle users that are interested in darts, anyone with some creativity and a feel for their target audience could create themes to target any demographic.

An added bonus for the technically challenged, as I looked up the link and point you to where you can get started I discovered that Google has now added a Theme Maker feature!

2) Create Wallpapers for Computers and Cell Phones

Everyone with a computer has a desktop, and virtually all of them like to personalize it with wallpaper. The number of cell phone users in the world has now exceeded the number of people who own computers, and most cell phones these days offer personalization as well.

By creating custom wallpapers for both desktops and mobile devices and brand them with your web site URL, you can then offer them as a free download AND submit them to free wallpaper/cell phone web sites. Consider how many people would end up with www.yourwebsite.com right on their desktop and/or cell phone every day. Plus your website would get additional traffic from users searching for wallpapers and themes.

To give you a jump start on this, here are the screen resolutions you should offer:

Windows and Mac Desktops:

640x480 Screen Resolution
800x600 Screen Resolution
1024x768 Screen Resolution
1152x864 Screen Resolution
1280x960 Screen Resolution
1344x1008 Screen Resolution
1280x1024 Screen Resolution
1400x1050 Screen Resolution
1600x1200 Screen Resolution
2048x1536 Screen Resolution

Mobile Devices:

101X80 Screen Resolution
128X128 Screen Resolution
128X160 Screen Resolution
176X220 Screen Resolution
240X240 Screen Resolution
240X320 Screen Resolution
320X240 Screen Resolution
96X64 Screen Resolution

3) Create MySpace Themes

If you really want to get busy, you could create some MySpace Themes. Brand them, link them to your web site and offer them as a free download. Sooner or later your web site - with links to your web site - would be all over MySpace. In addition to the added traffic you'd get from search engines on MySpace Layouts and Themes, all those in-bound links will help your SEO efforts. To repeat my comment regarding iGoogle desktop themes above, anyone with some creativity and a feel for their target audience could create themes to target any demographic.

4) Create a Facebook Application

If you're a savvy developer you know this already. For the rest there's the built in Gift Creator application on Facebook that is as easy to use as a toaster. Using Gift Creator you can create an app that lets users share your artwork, products or anything else you decide on with their friends. This is a major viral tool. I created one in December of 2008 for my dart shirts and currently there are over 4000 daily users - all trading my dart shirts with each other - and all those pages are branded and linked to my website. That number climbs by an average of 100 users per week.

5) Create Twitter Backgrounds

Twitter is growing into quite the social networking/micro blogging experience for millions of Internet users. By creating backgrounds specific to Twitter - and the demographics you wish to target - you can brand them with your website URL and offer them as free downloads. You could even create a Twitter account to promote the backgrounds as well as link to your products on a regular basis.

I am considering buying a domain name and creating a web site just for this purpose. I think it is a great channel to dive into and take advantage of.

Now to get creative!

Consider these ideas and the ways you can put them to use to drive visitors to your web site! The comments feature is active for any questions, comments, suggestions. Tell me what's on your mind.

Free Guide: 8 Surefire Strategies for Monetizing Your B2B Website

Discover how to maximize your revenue potential by utilizing the traffic you already have. This guide presents specific strategies for easily converting the traffic you have today into significant, reliable revenue for your site. Free!

What's Mom Doing Online?

2009-05-08T13:50:00.000-07:00

As Mothers Day approaches, we all begin the quest for this years perfect gift. But what do Moms do that we should know about?

New data from Nielsen Online:

Nielsen defines "Power Moms" as women aged 25-54 with at least one child. These women represent almost 20% of the online population.

Established Moms (aged 40-50 with 3+ kids) are heavy online shoppers. Shopzilla.com is their most popular shopping site.

Newbie Moms (aged 35-34 with 1-2 kids) also shop online, but are more into social networking.

Moms have also generated their own online community with blogs. These blogs cover everything from raising kids to reviewing handbags and sharing shopping tips. Now that you know all of this, go out and find your Mom the perfect gift. And if Moms happen to be a part of your target audience and marketing plan, you now know where to find them.

Internet Inevitability

2009-04-29T00:12:00.000-07:00

I was recently contacted for a little Q&A by Printwear's Associate Editor, Heather B. Fried. My Printwear issue arrived today and her article Internet Inevitability provides a great look into today's Internet marketplace and the in's and out's apparel decorators should be aware of. Especially if you have not jumped into the world of e-commerce, or at a minimum created an online presence for your business.

Read the Digital Issue Online

Don't *%^& With The Art Department

2009-04-22T19:14:00.000-07:00

Today CafePress may have turned a positive Internet entity into a graveyard of former talented designers. If you follow my magazine column you know the company I am talking about. For those unfamiliar, CafePress is a fulfillment service that provides print on demand production for online designers and shopkeepers.

From their web page:

In a nutshell we sell T-Shirts, apparel, gifts for the home, stationery, gear, and other stuff that gets printed on. But the interesting thing is, we don't design a thing. Our shopkeepers create the designs. So every time a shopkeeper designed product sells, they make money.

Great Program, Great Traffic

The CafePress web site averages a reported 11 million unique visits per month, and see as many as 2000 new independent shops join the online network each day. The great thing CafePress has (or after today, had) going for it is the designers. Anyone in the imprinted sportswear industry knows that it is the designs and creativity that sell. With a virtual army of designers covering thousands of styles, markets and audiences CafePress has probably one of the largest art departments in imprinted sportswear history. And, they set their own pay scale and are happy with that!

Prior to today the policy was simple for designers. Open your CafePress store, upload your designs and start selling. You are given a base price for each item and the profit was left up to you by marking up each item to what you feel is a fair price for what you have created for the market.

I have had my dart shirts web site going strong there for quite some time now, and as many of you know I have marketed the web site effectively in the search engines, online forums, blogs and other channels around the Internet. After today that will pay off, as I have had to pull all of my designs out of the CafePress marketplace.

Don't *%^& With The Art Department

The announcement arrived in this mornings email. CafePress will now be setting prices for anything appearing in their marketplace, and providing the designer 10% commission for each item sold through the marketplace. Thinking that was surely a typo, some joker broadcasting a 4/20 prank message to shopkeepers or me just plain reading it wrong I was off to investigate.

Unfortunately I found that to be true. CafePress has taken it upon themselves to set a 10% commission - on a pricing structure they create - and apply it as a "reasonable licensing fee" to the designers. What that means is the very graphic designers, photographers and artists that generate sales through CafePress have now had their income cut by an estimated 70% to 80%. Plus, they will have no say in pricing.

What This Means

Shopkeepers who have successfully created a CafePress store that does not rely on marketplace traffic are not going to suffer very much. The way I understand this new policy, all sales through your shop remain the same: your pricing with your designated markup. So in my case, in all honesty I feel like my target audience will find my web site first if not right after searching the marketplace and finding that all of the talented designers have pulled out. Other shop keepers who have kept their Internet marketing strategies focused outside the marketplace will likely experience the same.

However the thousands of designers and entrepreneurs who have been selling through the marketplace and finding success are now left out in the cold to either move to a different print on demand company or suffer the pay cut. Many are reporting that this decision will more than likely destroy what was their primary source of income. Others are simply shutting down, while the majority are just packing up and leaving for another place to sell their creativity.

What it means for CafePress is yet to be determined, I can only imagine it isn't very pretty with the majority of the art department packing up and moving to the competition.

Having brought all of that to the blog, I apologize to any readers of my magazine column that joined in on last years "Online Adventure" series and have been working on a successful CafePress web site. Of course, if you've been successful with the marketing tips I included and not relying on the marketplace for your traffic you're fine for now just as I am. Despite that, I am still disappointed in this turn of events.

A Word On POD / Fulfillment Services

For anyone researching fulfillment services and print on demand opportunities, consider this a heads up. I won't deny CafePress still has my nod of approval for the way things are set up for their premium shops, the shopping cart system itself and the services offered. I decided to go with them for those reasons and more.

However, I will no longer offer my designs in their marketplace under these new terms. I will also be keeping my eyes peeled for a place to move my dart shirts web site. And I will stand by my peers as an insulted graphic designer who has been offered a mere 10% commission on the artistic expression that made CafePress what it is... Or was.

Blog Rolling the Subject

If you post a blog I have missed feel free to add the link in the comments section with your opinion or shoot me the link. And of course, linking back can only better the subjects chances of search engine goodness.

Ms. Dow Antiques ~ 'Tique Talk: Cafe Press Creates Zazzle's Lucky Day

Spiritual Counseling, Perfume, Healing and Me: Cafepress? No More!!!

Writing With Impact: Cafe Press Shopkeepers Unite

365 Days on South Dixie Lane: Cafepress and other things I'm sick about

Amuzed Grace: Kicker

Mattie’s Soapbox: Standards in Best Business Practice

Paul Hood: CafePress Fires 6.5 Million People

New Tech Scam: Smishing

2009-04-20T16:51:00.000-07:00

By now you have become familiar with the term Phishing, and learned how to spot these attempts that arrive in your email. Despite the scammers getting better at creating phony web sites to try and capture users information, they're still not good enough to work around ISP's blocking their email broadcasts, filters and other forms of defense.

A new form of Phishing has arrived that you should be aware of called Smishing. Rather than delivering the traditional email, scammers are now sending phishing come ons and scams via SMS message to cell phones.

One popular attempt notifies the user that thay are about to be charged for something unless it is canceled. For example: "Thank you for signing up for our online backup service! You will be charged $2 per day unless you cancel your order by clicking here or visiting this-phony-web-site.com." Just like Phishing emails, the site users are directed to is 100% fake and will ask for your credit card number, certain login information and perhaps even try to install something to your machine or manipulate your browser. Smishing messages have also been reported to have asked for users to call a toll free number in order to complete or cancel a financial transaction.

Another scam reported may try to mimic a message alleged to be from your mobile carrier: "Congratulations! You won $300 worth of free talk time minutes today. To claim your prize just type: (insert random numbers here) and send to 2292 three times. (LOAD REWARD) Thank you!"

With the possible exception of your mobile service provider, the chances of any legitimate business contacting you via text message are slim to none. And most mobile service provider's messages will be recognizable. The recommended action to take if you receive any scam messages is of course to laugh and carry on with your day.

Getting Started With Twitter

2009-04-18T14:20:00.000-07:00

As I was preparing my follow up blog to accompany my upcoming magazine column on Twitter, I discovered much of the content was being taken up by Twitter jargon alone. Yes, as usual new technology and new applications come with their own set of keywords, language and terminology.

Rather than type all of that out, thanks to the folks at CNet.com there is a quick video to cover the basics.

Once the issue has arrived to subscribers I will follow up with some links and comments for readers to use. You can follow my webmaster account on Twitter @Webmaster_Rags.

Free Guide: Twitter: Best Practices and Tips

If you've felt like tweeting for quite some time now, but didn't know where to start, this guide is for you. In over forty pages this guide tackles every Twitter feature, tip and trick you can think of. Learn to work the interface, to Tweet from your desktop, cool Twitter bots and which people to follow. free!

Considering a Mobile Friendly Website

2009-04-10T22:42:00.000-07:00

I was just looking over some Internet statistics and once again had to raise an eyebrow at the increase in users of mobile Internet. Not only has the number of users exceeded those with desktop Internet access, there are now more people surfing the web on a mobile device than the number of people driving automobiles.

If you haven't put any thought into adding a mobile friendly web site to your online presence, now would be a great time to consider it. After studying the development end and testing hundreds of websites from my Blackberry I've come up with a few recommendations.

1) Be clear about how you can benefit your audience

As I've mentioned in a previous blog post a restaurant having a mobile web site is a no brainer, and a great example of a business that needs a mobile web site these days. People on the go use their mobile devices to find everything from movie theaters to hot spots on the town. But what about other businesses?

Understanding your customers and target audience will guide you to creative ways of utilizing a mobile friendly web site. If your business sells products you could offer real time order status and package tracking from the moment an order is placed, through any production process and its availability for delivery or pick up. A business that operates by appointments could allow users to make and cancel appointments online. Any business could offer their current specials, sales promotions or incentives.

In short, consider how your customer base - and potential buyers - would enjoy the ease of use, communication and extra service that can make their life a little easier.

2) Be clear and simple

Considering the load time and the nature of small screens on mobile devices, your mobile web site should be simple and effective. The information you decide to offer should be first priority over excessive use of images and/or highly detailed graphic layouts. This is a win win situation for you and your audience, as they're enjoying a speedy visit and getting what they are looking for in a timely manner and on your end there is very little to be concerned with in terms of maintenance and development.

3) Consider purchasing a mobile domain

The .mobi domain is now standing with top level domains like .com and .net with the increase in mobile Internet users. The major difference is that the .mobi extension is exclusive to delivering web pages to mobile devices, although other popular extensions can still be viewed over a mobile device. You will find it beneficial as search engines listing mobile friendly web sites to devices will recognize the extension, and mobile users will recognize it in your marketing efforts.

4) Provide a call to action, but keep it simple

Your existing customers might enjoy the ability to send you a quick message online, while users just discovering your site may want to contact you for more information. Having said that, it would be advisable to include a contact form but a very bare-bones version. A form asking for their contact name, email address and comments is more than likely about all a mobile user will have the patience to fill in from their device.

5) Return on investment

On the development side of things I have discovered that creating a mobile web site is not a very tall mountain to climb at all. In fact, with some clever developing an existing site could easily handle traffic from desktop users as well as mobile devices by using a little browser recognition code in creative ways. Therefore, I expect the cost of having creating a mobile web site to be more than worth the effort.

Accepting Payments: The Death of the Money Order

2009-04-06T11:31:00.000-07:00

Last week I experienced something new in terms of receiving payment for services rendered. The first of the month arrived and as usual the pile of bills that go with it. So when sending current invoices I offered clients a discount for fast payment in order to rest assured I could get everything paid up quickly for the month.

To start an interesting chain of events, one customer submitted payment online via PayPal. Trouble is, it was to the wrong email address. It was one of my email addresses, but not the email address connected to my PayPal account.

This no doubt brings a question to my mind: "Why is PayPal accepting payments to non existing accounts?". I was offered the opportunity to add that email address to my existing PayPal account. But that is beside the point. What if it had NOT been to one of my email addresses? Could the recipient have claimed my funds? I had to email my customer and have them pull the payment, which I assume was just sitting in CyberSpace waiting for someone to take it.

I was on the road that day on a field trip to Oklahoma to meet a client, and it was then I discovered that when using my Blackberry to send email an advertisement was being included with my outgoing mail just after my sig file. One in particular that caught my eye was "Pay me through PayPal" with my email address included in the ad. Clearly it was that which created the confusion in the days PayPal transaction going to the wrong account, and something I need to take up with my provider.

My customer then decided to send payment overnight, and rather than write a check they sent a money order to save me any problems getting it cashed. Often banks will hold out of state checks for several days, and almost every check cashing service has some sort of verification process. I - as well as my customer - thought that a money order was just as good as cash.

We were wrong.

My first stop was my local Cash Express. I like the place because for a small fee - much less than banks charge me - I can cash my checks quickly and easily, along with reloading my credit card if necessary. I can also pay many utility bills there all in one stop. I was told that they couldn't cash the money order without verifying it with the issuing bank, which was closed due to the time difference. I then took it to my local bank which informed me they won't cash a money order unless it is issued from a branch of their bank. Two more banks gave the the same answer.

On to the grocery stores. Same thing. You can buy money orders all day, however they will not cash any unless you bought the money order from them. I've never felt so poor with that much money in my pocket before. The feeling is quite disturbing actually.

Later that day I received a check in the mail and returned to Cash Express. While they were cashing my check I explained my afternoon adventure in Money Order Chaos and was told that Money Orders are likely about to be a thing of the past. Apparently they have become very easy to create and/or have become popular in cases of fraud. I was told that every establishment has these strict policies due to that, and it would be in my best interest to stick to online payments and receiving checks.

Just passing along that experience. I am no longer going to accept Money Orders, and having learned that little lesson in finance I'd suggest everyone review their own policies before any hassles arrive in your mail box.

New Web Site: Tripleight USA

2009-04-03T18:00:00.000-07:00

Recently, John Kuczynski contacted me regarding a new e-commerce web site for darts and supplies. This particular project utilizes the PayPal standard, shopping cart integration and checkout procedures.

Today we went ahead and launched the new web site featuring John Kuczynski and Scott Kirchner's Signature Series darts as well as a full line of Tripleight Universal Barrels. We are adding darts supplies and accessories as they arrive from Tripleight.

It has been a pleasure working with John on this project and I look forward to the completed supplies and accessories site.

Mobile Internet Gets Interesting

2009-03-20T11:10:00.000-07:00

In recent news the number of people using their mobile device to access news and information on the Internet more than doubled from January 2008 to January 2009. And it comes as no surprise that Mobile Social Networking saw a 427% in 1 year.

As this trend grows it will surely become something to keep an eye on for opportunities in Internet Marketing, and at the least productivity. I know I couldn't be near as productive as I am today without my Blackberry.

Another consideration is creating a mobile friendly web site to go along with your existing site. I have created a few in the past, a good example being a local restaurant. Mobile Internet users tend to search for things on the go, so a restaurant having a mobile friendly web site, hours of operation, menu and directions to their location is a no brainer.

Food for thought while enjoying the Spring weather and brainstorming on creative marketing ideas!

Press release and Statistics from comScore

NetworkedBlogs: New Facebook App

2009-03-17T15:36:00.000-07:00

NetworkedBlogs has launched a new application that allows you to promote your blog on Facebook and to discover new blogs in the process. Combining your efforts on Facebook and Blogging by using this great new application is sure to gain you more exposure, visitors and followers.

Features

Show a thumbnail image of your blog on your profile
A visual blogroll on your profile to promote your blog and blogs you like
A directory of blogs organized by topic and geographical locations
Read blog articles inside Facebook
A discussion forum about everything related to blogging
A community of like minded people to connect with and learn from

Facebook users discovering your blog through this application have easy one click tools to invite friends and share your content. And as Facebook now has real time feeds applied to users pages, these actions are even more viral as the action is posted for their friends list to discover.

NetworkedBlogs Website
NetworkedBlogs Facebook App

Download the Build Your Own WordPress Site Guide now, and read it on your computer today! With this free guide you will also receive daily updates on new cool websites and programs in your email for free!

10 Reasons To Have A Custom Blog

2009-03-17T14:50:00.000-07:00

Despite this article dating back to 2005, after reading it again today I discovered that from a marketing and search engine perspective it has yet to have been out-dated.

Todays blogs have much more than the article mentions in terms of technology you can take advantage of. Built in RSS feeds allow you to syndicate your blog posts to targeted areas around the Internet. Incoming RSS feeds can be utilized to keep your blog content fresh and updated while you are busy running your business. Interactive Widgets give you and your readers easy to use tools to communicate encouraging participation and communication.

But the 10 reasons mentioned in this article still apply today.

From the archives, 10 Reasons To Have A Custom Blog.

If you have yet to create your blog, have a look at my portfolio and consider having me help you get up to speed in the blogosphere. *Save 25% through May!

RSS Directory List

2009-03-15T17:44:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned RSS in blogs and articles a few times, so I thought I'd post a list of directories specifically developed for promoting your RSS feeds. In a little less than an hour you should be able to submit your feed to all of these, each link opens in a new window/tab for convenience.

Feedest.com

Blogoculars.com

2RSS.com

FeedsFarm.com

RssFeeds.com

RSSaround.com

Feedbees.com

FeedsHoster.com

Plazoo.com

Page2go2.com

Feedooyoo.com

RSSmicro.com

FeedFury.com

Octora.com

RSSMountain.com

FindRSS.net

FeedBase.net

RSSmotron.com

MoreNews.be

DayTimeNews.com

Rss-Feeds-Submission.com

MillionRSS.com

Yahoo RSS Guide

ReadABlog.com

GoldenFeed.com

BlogDigger.com

RSSFeeds.com

feed24.com

88tem.com

WeBlogAlot.com

FeedBoy.com

Chordata.info

BlogPulse.com

DayPop.com

IceRocket.com

RSS-Network.com

Jordomedia.com

Feeds2read.net

Feedcycle.com

FeedShark.BrainBliss.com

FeedPlex.com

These RSS directories require free username registration.

FeedCat.net

RSSmad.com

Feedage.com

NewsIsFree.com

RSSfeedz.com

Syndic8.com

NewzAlert.com

5 Reasons I've Been Using FireFox

2009-03-13T14:26:00.000-07:00

As a web designer and developer, I have a handful of browsers to test sites for compatibility. But which browser do I use on a daily basis? I've switched to FireFox for productive reasons, some of which you may find useful for your online tasks.

1) Tabbed Browsing and Save Session

Browsing with tabs has been a real time saver. I generally have several windows I have to work with. My Twitter Dashboard, Web Site Editor, the web site I am working on, Gmail, and an active search. Rather than having that many windows open to switch back and forth to, I simply click between tabs.

Save Session is great. If Firefox unexpectedly closes, you don’t have to spend time recovering data or retracing your steps through the Web. If you’re in the middle of typing an email, you’ll pick up where you left off, even down to the last word you typed. Session Restore instantly brings back your windows and tabs, restoring text you entered and any in-progress downloads. With the Save Session on Exit feature added, I can close FireFox at any stopping point and return to that exact place when I return, including all the tabs I had running at the time.

2) Ad Block Plus

We are all annoyed by all those ads and banners on the internet that often take longer to download than everything else on the page. Adblock Plus is a great plugin that gets rid of them. You can right-click on a banner and choose "Adblock" from the context menu — and the banner won’t be downloaded again. With a filter subscription, even this simple task will usually be unnecessary: the filter subscription will block most advertisements fully and automatically.

You might also note that you can set Ad Block Plus to allow ads on specific web sites you choose. Quite often the related content on certain web sites can be important and relevant to your interests.

3) Customization

FireFox allows you to install Add-on's that can improve your productivity as well. For example, as I work throughout the day online, I have Add-ons that alert me to events that may require my attention. There are Add-on's that track your bids on eBay, alert you to updates on your favorite web sites, give you a live feed of activity from all of your social networks and more.

4) Security

An independent study shows that, in 2006, IE users were vulnerable to online threats 78% of the time. Firefox users? Only 2%. Over time Explorer has been attacked by so many threats that rumor has it, version 8 may be the last Explorer browser offered. With Microsoft seemingly always a target for hacks and cracks, FireFox has been a much more comfortable browser to use in my opinion.

5) Productive Features

One-Click Bookmarking allows you to bookmark, search and organize web sites quickly and easily. You can view web pages faster, using less of your computer’s memory. Smart Location Bar let's you find the sites you love in seconds — enter a term for instant matches that make sense. The Password Manager allows you to remember site passwords without ever seeing a pop-up.

And those are just a few. Using FireFox in combination with many online tools from Google and other parties, I can manage to fit what used to be a 12 to 14 hour day into an 8 hour day based on improved task management, automation, ease of use and speed.

Video: AdWords Bidding Explained

2009-03-13T11:34:00.000-07:00

Google's Chief Economist, Hal Varian, explains the AdWords Ad Auction and how your max CPC bid and quality score determine how much you pay for a click on Google.

Social Networking in 2009

2009-03-11T18:20:00.000-07:00

Promowear Magazine, March/April 2009.

Just as this issue of Promowear Magazine arrives, starting today Facebook users will start to see the new homepage, which is designed to make it faster and easier to create multimedia updates and receive instantaneous feed items from your network. It was also annouced today that Facebook has surpassed 190 million users, and are just weeks away from 200 million.

The news feed stream will now include real-time items being shared by your friends, so you can get instant glimpse of the social activity happening in you and your network. As I mentioned in this article, I recommend importing the RSS feed from your blog or website, and creating a page for your business.

Edit March 13, 2009: At the time I wrote this issues article I had no reference to demographics, I stumbled across some today confirming my predictions.

Read the Digital Issue Online
Subscribe to Promowear Magazine

New Blog: John Kuczynski, Dart Player

2009-03-06T13:21:00.000-08:00

While I am just about done with John Kuczynski's new web site, taking the time to create a blog for John made a nice addition to his online presence. Johnny has a lot of fans as one of the most popular and winning American dart players, and those fans like to follow his tournaments and achievements.

I sensed a bit of frustration from him in regards to updating the Internet. John was spending quite a bit of time updating his fans on MySpace, Facebook and his own web sites. By creating this blog and utilizing the RSS feed, John can now simply post once and the other sites are automatically syndicated with the same post.

If you are interested in a blog for yourself feel free to contact me.

Font Readability Study

2009-03-04T16:31:00.000-08:00

As an artist and designer, achieving a level of satisfaction with any client comes with the expectation that quite often we will disagree when it comes to our design ideas. That comes with the territory and applies to logo design, branding, advertising and all other forms of artistic expression.

However when it comes to creating a web site and designing for the Internet, there are certain boundaries and guidelines that a designer should conform to in order to please the most important element of the project - your web site visitors.

Believe it or not the most specific disagreements I have experienced have come in the selection of fonts. As you know there are thousands - maybe millions of typestyles to choose from. But when applying that design choice to the Internet, the truth is you should select from only a handful.

Short story is, you can apply any font to your web pages that you like but if the user visiting your web site doesn't have that same font installed on their system they won't see it. It will default to whatever font their system has been set to use in the event that a font is missing.

There is also the given fact that not everyone uses the same size monitor, uses the same monitor resolution settings, or even has the same strength of vision. Having said that, the readability of your font selection comes into play as well.

Reflecting on these technical tidbits of typestyle trivia, I managed to dig up a great article and survey from my bookmarks that explains things in detail and presents a great visual example of what can happen if an unwise font selection is made.

Intro To Google Reader

2009-03-04T00:07:00.000-08:00

I have mentioned and/or discussed in depth the subject of RSS feeds (Real Simple Syndication) in many of my articles, as well as suggesting RSS to clients frequently. More often than not the subject appears to create hesitation, confusion or the feeling that I am making suggestions on too high of a technical level.

I was reminded of that scenario when I stumbled across this video from Google, and decided it would be beneficial to include it here with a brief how to blog post for anyone who wants to get their feet wet and test the waters of syndicated information.

Let's start the video clip:

The first step of course is to login to your Google account and add Google Reader. You will find this by going to Google, clicking on "My Account" to the top right of your screen, then scrolling down to "Try Something New". If you don't see Google Reader there, click on "More >>".

Once you have added Google Reader you can start adding RSS feeds to it. There are a couple of methods to adding feeds.

One method can be utilized while you are browsing the Internet. If you find yourself on a web page, blog or news site of interest you will usually find an icon something similar to the icons pictured to the right of this paragraph. Other times it is a text link like the one I have at the top of this blog. These links and icons vary from site to site, but after a few glances you will begin to become more familiar with them. When logged into your Google Reader account you can simply click on the link or icon and the following page will allow you to click on "Add To Google Reader". All set!

The other method is to manually add an RSS feed. To add a feed manually you will need to know the feed URL. The easy way to grab the feed URL is to right click on the link or RSS icon and select "Copy Link Location". You may then go to Google Reader, press the "Add A Subscription" button and paste the URL into the field.

Google Reader also allows you to search for feeds you may be interested in directly from your Google Reader page. You can also organize your feeds into folders by selecting "Manage Subscriptions" in the bottom left corner of your Google Reader screen.

An example of how to take advantage of RSS would be to reflect on how you read your local newspaper. I tend to breeze through the front page news rather quickly, then dig out the sports page and occasionally the metro section to see what's happening in my neighborhood. In an online world using RSS feeds, I simply subscribe to the RSS feeds "Front Page", "Sports" and "Metro" from my local newspaper.

I also categorize my subscriptions by keeping them in folders within Google Reader:

Sports: The sports feed from the local paper, the Dallas Cowboys feed along with the rest of my favorite sports teams, Indy Car Racing etc.

Business: I subscribe to many industry related news feeds, stay on top of search engine happenings and follow blogs that keep me in touch and up to speed with what's going on in my field of work.

News: Simply put, I drop all of my news subscriptions there.

Darts: All things dart related.

If you're catching on you're beginning to see that I can log in to Google Reader in the morning and absorb all the news and information I need for the day within a few minutes rather than browsing through bookmarks and links for an hour or more. In addition I can select feeds to be sent to my Blackberry for news on the fly, alerts that are critical to any of my web sites or just to have something nearby to read if I'm stuck waiting for a meeting to get started.

Once you get the hang of RSS you can then start enjoying not only a faster paced gathering of information, but also begin to understand how RSS can benefit your business, provide you with Internet Marketing channels or simplify your daily work routine in some way.

For readers with a few more minutes to view video tutorials, the Google Reader Help Channel has a few more clips that should clear up any other questions.

Want An Ask Search Bar On Your Web Site?

2009-02-28T01:07:00.000-08:00

How would you like a nice full blown Ask Jeeves search bar across the top of your web site?

Well, in this case you don't even have to ask!

The team over at Ask has decided to load their users search results in a frame, along with the web sites users click through to visit. Despite the optional method for dismissing the search bar - which doesn't necessarily work for everyone due to cookie handling - it still creates issues. Once a user gets more than one page deep into a web site, if they dismiss the search bar the reloaded page goes back to the first page viewed.

And let's not even discuss the wonderful suggested search terms they include, which is easy one click access for your visitors to leave your web site.

Any comments?

Yahoo!(R) Mobile - Your Starting Point to the Internet?

2009-02-17T12:48:00.000-08:00

According to recent Press Release from Yahoo!(R) we will soon be introduced to a new and improved Yahoo! Mobile service.

Features are to include:

Yahoo! oneSearch(TM) - Yahoo!'s award-winning mobile search service providing the most current, relevant answers you need.

Today - The most interesting stories buzzing on the Internet right now, selected by Yahoo!'s editorial team.

Email - Access to Yahoo! Mail and other popular email service providers, including Gmail(R), Windows Live(TM) Hotmail and AOL(R) Mail.

Pulse - Access totheir social networks, including Bebo(R), Dopplr(TM), Facebook(R), Flickr(R), Friendster(R), Last.fm(R), MySpace(R), Twitter(TM) and YouTube(TM).

Yahoo! Address Book - Keeps consumers' contacts always handy and in sync.

Yahoo! Calendar - View, add and edit appointments when users are away from their PCs.

Yahoo! News - Breaking headlines across popular topics.

The smartphone version of Yahoo! Mobile is to include the above, plus:

Yahoo! oneSearch with Voice(TM) - Allowing users to launch searches by simply speaking.

Maps - Powerful improved tools that let consumers locate, learn about and get directions to points of interest.

Opera Mini(TM) 4.2 - An integrated version of the world's most popular mobile web browser, with easy return to the Yahoo! Mobile app, that launches when web site access is needed.

Widgets - Enhanced mobile-optimized experiences for services from Yahoo! and other brands. Users can browse, add and remove these at anytime according to their tastes.

I gave it a spin on my Blackberry this morning and submitted an application to be a beta tester.

I currently use many of Google's mobile services that I find extremely valuable. Google allows you to sync your calendar, contacts and appointments to and from your mobile device and the web, and the Google maps feature is nice on occasion. Gmail has been very easy to use as well. I recently installed Google Latitude, which tracks my Blackberry's GPS signal. Although the application was intended for others to know where you are, I installed it should I ever lose it or have it stolen.

It will be interesting to see what Yahoo! Mobile has in store for us in terms of productivity, tools we can use in our daily business routines and of course possible channels for marketing online.

My Facebook Philosophy

2009-02-16T16:35:00.000-08:00

Recently I came across a post in an online forum where someone relatively new to Internet Marketing had posted a question regarding Facebook. Basically he was asking other web site owners whether or not linking to a Facebook Fan Page would be a good idea or not.

I was a little disappointed in the replies the poster was receiving. Those who responded made sense, basically encouraging the philosophy of "why link to an off-site web page when you have the customer on your site already". While I do subscribe to that theory, I had to disagree in this particular case.

I replied with:

I'm in the other camp {username}. My FB fan page generates sales and is another way to broadcast announcements and promotions to an opted in, qualified group of shoppers. Furthermore it is showing up in the search engines. While I agree that outgoing links need to be under scrutiny, I have to disagree that a Facebook fan page is a bad idea.

Also, Facebook allows you to create applications. I created one that allows users to send dart shirts to each other. It is generating an average of 100 active users per week. Every time someone sends one to a friend, both sending and receiving users have my products right there on their screen with my company info and link to my shop.

Add it all up, and from an Internet Marketing perspective its a no brainer. Go for it.

Back in December while tuning everything in for the last Holiday rush, I created a Facebook Fan Page for my dart shirts web site as well as the application I mentioned in my reply. By January my application had reached 638 monthly active users, and that number increases daily.

Considering the growth and continued popularity of Facebook, consider signing up if you have not joined the crowd. For more of my Facebook Philosophy coming from an Internet Marketing perspective, watch your mailbox for the next issue of Promowear Magazine.

Search Engine Stats: January 2009

2009-02-14T22:59:00.000-08:00

Why focus the majority of your SEO efforts on Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask? That is a question I get often, and here is the reason I do.

Where's Your Widget?

2009-01-21T19:25:00.000-08:00

Back in February of 08 I had posted about the iGoogle Darts Theme I had created, and later discovered went over relatively well as a traffic generator. I recently discovered a new and similar avenue in a Widget.

Widgets are nifty little scripts that run on web pages. They can have just about anything in them. Products to shop for, a picture of the day, the joke of the week etc... I'm sure you've seen more than one since you've been online today.

Having a web site that sells dart shirts and gifts to dart players, I discovered a news Widget that would allow me to enter any RSS feed into it for adding darts news snippets to my web site. A small effort to make the site somewhat "sticky" as they like to say. While surfing through my Google Reader for an RSS feed it occurred to me that I read darts news from several sources almost daily. By using the "Share" feature in Google Reader I could customize and generate my own darts news feed.

The result is a branded darts news Widget that dart players with web sites, blogs, MySpace Profiles, league web sites and other web pages might consider installing on their web pages. I know, now you're wondering how this may generate some traffic to my web site right?

Since I am generating the RSS feed through my Google Reader account, I also subscribed to my dart shirts blog. Now every time I post an announcement for a new product or t-shirt design I can share that news along with the other news snippets I share for the day. As a result, that simple click of the share button will broadcast my blog post to every web site using the Widget. And much like the iGoogle darts theme, this Widget will more than likely be placed on darts related web sites, where dart players can be found surfing the web.

I hope to update on some statistical data in the near future, in the meantime don't be shy. You can look at my Widget (yes, that does make me giggle), then browse around the Widgetbox web site and think creatively about making one of your own!

Alternative Search Engines

2009-01-15T21:15:00.000-08:00

Promowear Magazine, January/February 2009.

To kick off the beginning of the new year I thought I'd introduce Alternative Search Engines and CSE's to those not familiar with them. The following links open in a new window for you to explore along with the column, the comments feature here is available for questions and discussion:

Yahoo! Shopping

Shopping.com

Nextag

Price Grabber

Shopzilla

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Tools For Email Marketing

2009-01-12T17:17:00.000-08:00

I'll be straight up honest with you when I say that each end every month I have been selling products and services online, my list of newsletter subscribers has grown and sales have increased through Email Marketing. I am using Constant Contact, the same service I recommend to my clients and most of them enjoy using regularly. Constant Contact is an easy to use third party tool that pays for itself as each and every monthly newsletter or alert I send generates WELL MORE THAN enough sales to cover the cost, and the benefit of the things I get to do behind the scenes in terms of marketing my online store and achieving success.

Email Marketing and Online Surveys build lasting relationships with your customers and keep them coming back. Not to mention having an opted in list of subscribers gives you the chance to contact those who may be browsing but buying at a later time. Email Marketing and Online Survey are the tools you need to help grow your business. They're affordable. They don't take a lot of time to use. And they're effective. In fact, more than 250,000 businesses use Constant Contact to drive their success because they know using our tools to communicate with their current customers generates more referrals, customer loyalty, and repeat business.

Email Marketing lets you connect and get relevant messages out to people who want to hear from you. Online Survey helps them tell you what they really think about your designs, products, and communications - giving you new ideas and feedback to better understand and meet their needs.

The insights you'll get with Online Survey help you focus on how to meet customer needs and deliver what they want. And with Email Marketing, you can deliver relevant, professional-looking email campaigns that get opened, measured and acted on.

Create professional email campaigns and online surveys quickly and easily; choose from more than 200 easy-to-use newsletter templates and 40 survey templates. Or customize your own to compliment your web site.

Get survey feedback and measure email campaign results in real time with instant tracking and reporting, and uncover revealing trends and patterns.

Use online polls to keep your website fresh and your visitors coming back. Find answers to the questions you've been wondering about!

Manage your email and survey lists, and reporting all in one place with your integrated Constant Contact account.

Create targeted email lists based on survey response, and follow up with relevant email communications. Use the targeted lists to allow subscribers to opt-in for info on multiple interests, products and services.

Get help every step of the way with online educational resources and award-winning, free, and unlimited customer support.

My affiliation with Constant Contact gives me the opportunity to offer by blog readers and clients a FREE 60-Day Trial. Get Email Marketing, Online Survey or both. No risk. No obligation. No credit card gets you started with the award-winning service, and support more than 250,000 customers - including mine - know and trust.

Click here to start your FREE 60-Day Trial!

Got three minutes? Why not take a Video Tour?

Note: This video tour is from August 2007 and does not cover many of the newer features and benefits. It does however give you a good look inside what Constant Contact has to offer.

The Instant Messenger Song

2008-12-26T18:11:00.000-08:00

Online Adventure Part 4

2008-12-15T21:53:00.000-08:00

Promowear Magazine, November/December 2008.

Our Online Adventure comes to a close. I hope readers have seen some success with their online storefronts and at a minimum have learned some methods of Internet Marketing. The following links were included for using while following along with this column, and I have added some additional links as well:

Instant Café

DMOZ.org

Google

AltaVista

Lycos

Ask Jeeves

Yahoo

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The Power Of The Press Release

2008-11-16T17:45:00.000-08:00

As any marketing consultant will tell you, press releases have a powerful impact on getting your business in front of an audience. I remember back in 1996 when I had just started a single head embroidery business in North Dallas. I was featured in IMPRESSIONS Magazine as a single head operation finding niche markets in my area, and I promptly sent a press release out to every newspaper in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

The response was to say the least, IMPRESSIVE. In fact, as I recall I had to hire help within a few weeks to keep up with the workload I had suddenly generated.

I have recommended, written and submitted many press releases for customers throughout my career however I have to admit I am limited to a smaller database of publications, which generates a smaller amount of responses.

Writing your own press release can be challenging, but the real challenge - and time sonsuming task - is finding the proper contacts and news outlets to send your press release to, as well as having a good chance of having it published.

By using a service such as Advanced PR, for one low price you can reach millions through magazines, newspapers, radio and TV broadcasting companies, contacts you and I simply do not have. Announce your new web site, let everyone know about an award or new product you have, promote a seasonal sale or even celebrate the anniversary of your company each year and get your business out there in the public. While you comfortably run your business as usual, Advanced PR:

Distributes Your Press Release to Thousands of High Profile News Agencies

Makes Sure You Get & Receive Press Coverage in All Applicable Trade Publications

Generates Press Releases Are Personalized & Highly Targeted to Editors, Reporters, Journalists and Program Directors

Offers Various Distribution Options Including Email, News Wires, Fax, Audio & Search Engine Distribution

Provides Professional Writers on Staff to Create & Write Your Press Release

Uses An Extensive 690k Press Database Covering Thousands of Subjects

Has Guaranteed Press Release Coverage of Your PR

The value of the exposure and recognition that a tv blurb, newspaper or magazine write-up, editorial or product feature can have is often times enough publicity to launch small companies into multi-million dollar businesses and transform mid-to-large size companies into the billions. You can't underestimate the value of press and publicity. The golden rule is… "If you get press attention, you WILL GET ORDERS!"

Online Adventure Part 3

2008-09-16T12:45:00.000-07:00

Promowear Magazine, September 2008.

Time to turn our creative caps backwards, roll up our sleeves and rally into marketing and promoting your new online store. The following links were included for using while following along with this column:

Squidoo

StumbleUpon

Blogger

WordPress

And for brief look at how I use my Squidoo lenses for generating traffic and sales to my dart shirts web site:

My Dart Shirts

Dart Shirts History

Smart Darts - 501 Finishes

Dart Tournament Brackets

Regulation Dartboard Setup

Dart Teams

Online Darts Via Webcam

Gift Ideas for Dart Players

Software For Darts

Play Darts: 01

Play Darts: Cricket

Play Darts: Mickey Mouse

Play Darts: Shanghai

Historical Darts Pictures

CafePress Newsletters

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Online Adventure Part 2

2008-08-16T12:57:00.000-07:00

Promowear Magazine, July/August 2008.

Time to get the ball rolling and have some tools ready for marketing your new online store. The following links were included for using while following along with this column:

Google Analytics

Squidoo

Cafe Press

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Online Adventure Part 1

2008-06-16T13:21:00.000-07:00

Promowear Magazine, May/June 2008.

Join me for a summer full of hands on experience with Internet Marketing! This is the first in a series of columns that will take us on an adventure into Cyberspace, selling garments and imprinted items, and promoting the online store where you will be selling them. If you have not done so, head on over to Cafe Press and get your account started right away!

See y'all in the next issue!

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RSS-ing To The Occasion

2008-04-16T13:30:00.000-07:00

Promowear Magazine, March/April 2008.

This column explains a little about RSS (Real Simple Syndication) and how you may use it to automate your online activities as well as market your business. Examples of RSS you see here include the RSS feed to this blog in the top navigation area and my Twitter feed in the far right column.

As mentioned in this months article, Google Reader is a great tool to get started with to get familiar with RSS feeds and how they work.

Update March 15th, 2009: I have posted a list of RSS feed directories for submitting your feeds.

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Dartoids World

2008-04-15T20:33:00.000-07:00

I only wish mixing business with pleasure could come around more often. Recently I finished up an exciting project in the rebuild of Dartoids World. As a regular reader of Dartoid's column for many years, I had always been a bit torn when visiting his web site. As a fan and loyal subscriber to his articles, the content was always there. However from a webmaster's chair, I often found myself cringing at the lack of consistency, broken features and cookie cutter template and widgets that the web site consisted of.

I can't begin to explain how excited I was when I got a call from Dartoid himself to discuss an overhaul. Mixing humor and vignettes of local life with useful tips for darters who find themselves at the ends of the earth with nowhere to throw, Dartoid’s World is a must-read, the most widely read column about darts in the world.

I engineered Dartoids World to give him the freedom of posting his column with ease, using a custom created admin area that is as simple to use as any text editor or word program. In addition to that, I built in easy to use tools for Dartoid control other features on his web site such as polls, a travel gallery and recommended columns. Each time Dartoid posts a new column the web site automatically updates his RSS feed, Google Site Map and the menu's and links within navigation. I told him I could make it so easy a six year old could do it, and he no doubt responded with his great sense of humor, "good, because when it comes to this kind of stuff I'm about as smart as one".

Additional features give Dartoid's readers the ability to comment on articles and rate them, a rating system for the "double out shots" which are updated automatically each month, and a "wheres Dartoid" module that allows him to keep his audience updated on where his travels and journeys around the globe are currently taking him.

On six of seven continents, Dartoid has gone toe-to-toe and mug-to-mug with some of the best dart shooters, and best drinkers, on the planet. From Beijing to Toronto, Tokyo to Johannesburg, Bangkok to Rome, Dartoid’s stood at the line, often in the most unbelievable of circumstances.

Dartoid's column has been featured by Bull’s Eye News, the American Darts Organization’s (ADO) Double Eagle and numerous other darts publications and websites around the globe since 1995.

Order On The Court

2008-02-15T20:10:00.000-08:00

A good friend of mine in the dart league runs a business called Pioneer Sports Flooring, specializing in maple and synthetic sports surfaces for basketball, volleyball, athletic and recreational facilities. Realizing the need for a solid web presence to educate their existing customers as well as reach new clients and expand their market I was asked to build them a simple, straight forward informational web site.

During the process I was reminded of how important it is to have a web presence in todays business world. The Internet has become as common as a refrigerator and television set in homes around the world. Consumers are using the web to research products and services before picking up the phone or looking through the Yellow Pages, if they even keep a phone book handy anymore.

If there's one thing all of my new clients have in common, it is coming to terms with the fact that a web presence has become so critical. All of them admit that the majority of new customers that contact them ask the same question, "do you have a web site I can go look at to learn more about your business and see examples of what you have to offer?".

Despite the current economic situation, the Internet still thrives and maintains itself as a huge cog in the gears of commerce. Don't leave potential customers out there for your competitors, if you don't have a web site yet consider getting started right away!

iGoogle Darts Theme

2008-02-15T18:57:00.000-08:00

Just like most things I seem to stumble across, iGoogle had no home page themes for darts. So, just like the screen savers I made for my phone, PDA, Blackberry and laptop I decided that needed to be addressed and submitted a darts theme. Also, being the Internet Marketing tool that I am, I branded it with my dart shirts web site URL. My vision of course was to draw dart players to the web site to shop.

Can I say it was successful as an Internet Marketing venture? Unfortunately, the nature of the theme limits you to providing a static image. So without a functional link to track statistics from users there is no way to tell.

The theme page does have a counter that shows how many users currently have the theme installed on their iGoogle home page, and I have seen it as high as 4000 users since submitting the theme. From a branding perspective, considering a few thousand Internet users have my web site URL on their screen I would venture to say many will visit the web site. I would also guess that the majority of users who are enjoying the theme are dart players, which is a slam dunk in terms of reaching a targeted, qualified audience.

This is just another example of finding creative ways to get exposure and traffic - especially qualified traffic - to your web site. The Internet is full of widgets, bells, whistles and inter active features that people use quite often, and if you keep your eyes peeled for ways to market yourself through them you can discover stones left unturned.

So, if you're a dart player please enjoy this iGoogle Darts Theme and drop some comments - good or bad - on the iGoogle theme page!

During the day it looks like this:

And at night it changes to this:

Adwords Meets YouTube

2008-01-16T13:52:00.000-08:00

Promowear Magazine, January/February 2008.

Hopefully Promowear readers will have by this time explored pay per click advertising [See: July/August 2005 Issue]. And for those who did - and chose Google AdWords as their pay per click service – prepare for some exciting news.

Google recently added YouTube Video Units as an option to their AdSense users. Just like AdSense displays a relevant AdWords block on their web site, this simply plays content related video with AdWords running in a small banner and occasionally rotating through a semi transparent window below the video.

Update April 20, 2009: I just received an email from Google announcing that they will no longer be running this program.

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

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Search Engine Submission and Registration

2008-01-12T18:44:00.000-08:00

I have often been caught in conversations about my search engine rankings with a "Meh, nothing to it" casually thrown in. But behind the scenes, it is very easy for me to reflect on how many hours I spend maintaining my position in the search engines.

It becomes painfully clear every time I build a new web site and start the process all over again for a new client. Once the web site is finished and has gone live, you'd think I could kick back with some sort of gratification having completed another project. Sadly, a whole new task list has just begun.

Rather than spend hours on end submitting your web site to the sea of search engines available, and then of course monitoring your results, there is an option for staying busy doing what you do best and letting a dedicated firm handle your search engine submission chores.

Search Engine Submission and Registration Service, Professional Submissions to 0ver 1000 places.

There are many factors involved in regards to search engine submissions and rankings. First off, you or your webmaster must submit your web site to the hundreds of search engines and web directories on the Internet. Following that, incoming links and other listings play a great role in your search engine ranking success.

To assist in acheiving promising results, I recommend Advanced Ad. At a glance, here are some of the benefits and advantages of the Advanced Ad search engine registration linking service:

Saves time and money!

All you need to do is send your web site information and they will handle all the submissions for you! By letting them register your site for you, you may get your web site known in places you may not even be aware that exist!

Your site entered into the "primary databases" of all of the major high-traffic search engines and directories.

Including many important and major search engines and directories that other "software programs" can't do!

Advanced Ad will submit and register your web site into the key areas that will cause your web site to be found in hundreds of additional search engines and directories that HAVE PROVEN TO BE EFFECTIVE to build successful online businesses.

Online Holiday Marketing

2007-11-16T14:05:00.000-08:00

Promowear Magazine, November/December 2007.

As the holiday season is approaching once again, now is the time to carefully plan holiday marketing campaigns. The big companies, armed with teams of marketing gurus, spend months planning each years holiday strategies. And although many of us in the imprinted sportswear and promotional product industries are without such a staff and budget, we do have the knowledge of our business, our target audience and the ability to use the Internet as a tool for success.

Enjoy this months column, good luck and Happy Holidays to everyone!

Darts WithThe Spambot

2007-11-15T18:48:00.000-08:00

We all hate em'. Those pesky codes you have to enter in order to get an Internet form to go through. Usually they're an image with some distorted letters and numbers you can barely read. These things are in place to stop spambots from automatically sending their crap through the form processor.

I have been the victim of these spambots for quite a while now, and have simply refused to put my customers and web site visitors through the agony of distorted letters and numbers. But this week I finally had it. Filters werent doing the trick and those freakin' spambots were hitting my online forms several hundred times a day.

I was so fed up I considered purchasing all of their male enhancement products for an overdose so I could track them down and beat them within an inch of their lives with my newly acquired tree trunk sized male member.

So in order to calm down and address the problem creatively, the solution I installed randomly tells the user what their score is and asks them which double they need to aim at in order to take it out. Get it wrong and the message wont go through until you get it right!

EMail Marketing Made Easy

2007-09-16T18:23:00.000-07:00

If you use email on a regular basis, you're probably already receiving E-Newsletters from some of the companies you do business with. And while there's a tremendous amount of variation out there regarding what constitutes an E-Newsletter (or "electronic newsletter" or "E-zine" or "email newsletter;" they're all the same thing), they do have certain elements in common.

First and foremost, E-Newsletters arrive in your inbox as email messages. The sending company writes the newsletter, drops it into a predetermined email format, and sends it to a list of people who receive it on the other end. There's a fair amount of technology that runs in the background to do this efficiently and effectively, but when you boil it all down, it's just an email sent to many people at once.

To dig a bit deeper, think of an E-Newsletter like an electronic magazine, with three principal pieces:

1. Content. The words themselves - what you write and how you write it.

2. Formatting and Layout. Like a magazine, an E-Newsletter has a consistent look from month to month for organizing and laying out the content. Fonts, graphics, sections, headings, links, etc., all come together to create the design and layout.

3. Delivery and List Management. Once the newsletter is assembled (content + layout), there needs to be a "machine" for sending it out to a predetermined list of people (your subscribers). The machine takes care of the logistics behind delivery. In addition to sending the newsletter out, that includes things like adding/removing names; managing bounced emails; sending automated messages to readers as they come on the list or make changes to their personal information; and collecting and reporting on data regarding reader behavior and preferences.

Taken together, these three elements make up an E-Newsletter.

Why publish an E-Newsletter?

"The cost of acquiring a new customer can be as much as 5 times the cost of keeping an old one." (source: Peppers and Rogers).

"A 5% increase in retention yields profit increases of 25 to 100 percent" (source: Bain and Co.)

"Permission e-mail campaigns are ten times more effective than direct mail campaigns." (source: IMT Strategies)

The results of this research and dozens of other studies add up to a simple conclusion: It's a lot more cost effective and profitable to grow your business by increasing revenue and referrals from existing customers, than it is to keep chasing strangers. If you've got a "house list" of business relationships, you've got an extremely valuable asset. An asset that a quality E-Newsletter is perfectly suited to take advantage of.

Specifically...

An E-Newsletter Increases Lead Generation And Cross Selling. As your newsletter arrives month after month, it keeps you top of mind with customers, prospects, partners and others, and provides an ongoing, low-key mechanism for highlighting your full range of products and services.

An E-Newsletter Increases Customer Lifetime Value. Competitors can buy their way into your market by matching your pricing, matching your products and even matching the look and feel of your company. What they can't buy are your relationships. Every newsletter that you send serves to solidify the connection between your company and your customers.

An E-Newsletter Provides A Low Cost, Instantaneous Channel For Sending Messages. Your database of email addresses gives you instant access to your customers and prospects. Once the machine is set up, in addition to sending an E-Newsletter, you can send alerts, advisories and messages as frequently as you wish.

An E-Newsletter Opens Up A Two-Way Dialogue With Customers And Prospects. E-Newsletters allow recipients to easily and immediately interact with you. Comments are made, information is requested, an exchange of ideas between you and your customers flows easily in both directions.

An E-Newsletter Hypercharges Your Existing Marketing Efforts. Your E-Newsletter doesn't compete with your web site, print newsletter or existing marketing materials. It leverages them. It creates a steady pulse and focus that ties your other marketing efforts together.

An E-Newsletter Provides Instant, Measurable Results. Advertising, sponsorships, and many other traditional marketing tactics offer few options for measuring the return on your investment. E-based tactics on the other hand, are instantly trackable. With each E-Newsletter you send, you'll know how many people opened it; how many links were clicked on; who clicked on which links; and more. Fact-based, real time metrics.

If you already send printed materials out to your contact list - whether as a print newsletter or in some other fashion - the most immediate and measurable benefit of switching to an electronic format is a savings in time, printing and mailing costs. With a variable cost per newsletter of nearly zero, you will never again have to weigh the benefits of printing more materials or agonize over whether or not person X is "worthy" of the cost of sending information.

What About SPAM and Privacy Concerns?

The hottest topic in email marketing today is SPAM. As corporations and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) work to control the amount of unsolicited email entering their systems, they may inadvertently filter out legitimate emails, including some E-Newsletters. In industry lingo, this type of error is known as a "false positive," and the result is that some emails sent to people who have requested them don't ever reach their destination.

But, let's put that into perspective. Even with SPAM's impact, a good E-Newsletter sent to your house list will still be opened by over 40% of the people it's sent to. Given typical response rates to traditional marketing tactics, that's as much as 40 times better than the percentage of people who read your newspaper ads; respond to your direct mail; or return your unsolicited phone calls.

The fact is, for the small business owner, an E-Newsletter represents the first time in history that we've ever been able to cost effectively communicate with our entire customer and prospect base over and over and over again. Not only that, but thanks to the inherently democratic nature of email (i.e. the big boys don't get any more space in the email inbox than the rest of us), an E-Newsletter gives us the opportunity to not just compete with, but outperform our much larger competitors for the attention of readers.

And so, while SPAM has certainly reduced some of the effectiveness of E-Newsletters in recent months, this remarkable tool is by no means past its prime.

How Much Time And Money Does It Require?

I hope that by now you're convinced of the value of an E-Newsletter for your business. The next logical question, of course, is how much does it cost in time and dollars?

The answer depends on a few things.

1. First of all, there's the content. The more you write by yourself from scratch - as opposed to compiling from other sources, or farming out to other writers - the more time it will take. Although it's less expensive to write original content, you'll want to assess whether you've got the resources in-house to put it all together each month.

2. Next, you'll want to consider design. For maximum effectiveness, your E-Newsletter should reflect your unique brand and style. While you can customize a standard template, your best results will be obtained by creating a look and feel that's just for you (i.e. using a professional designer).

3. Finally, there's monthly production: formatting the content and getting it out the door on a regular basis. Here too, you'll want to weigh the benefits of doing it yourself (less expensive) vs. hiring a firm such as mine to manage the details for you (less worry and error).

As a rule of thumb, if you do the work yourself, you should figure on two full days of work per newsletter - one day to develop the content; one day to manage the layout and delivery logistics. You should also count on the first newsletter taking an additional two or three days to develop the format and style.

Conclusion

Pound for pound, an E-Newsletter offers the small business owner an opportunity to reach out to customers and prospects in ways that were simply not possible just a few short years ago. Whether you do it yourself, farm out the entire process, or strike a balance in-between, this new tool is well worth adding to your repertoire.

Please check out Constant Contact to see how it can help you get started with an E-Newsletter. I have been using it and recommending it to anyone and everyone with an email marketing campaign.

The 30 Minute SEO Workout

2007-09-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

Promowear Magazine, September 2007.

Many businesses without the benefit of an employee or staff to constantly monitor their web site, and the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tasks that go with it, tend to fall a bit behind in the race for online visibility. The Internet and search engines themselves are always moving and changing, and changing with them can be time consuming.

This months column introduces readers to a scheduled web site maintenance routine. Spending as little as thirty minutes each week, you too can stay on top of your web sites SEO.

Free Guide: OPTIMIZE ONLINE - How To Build Your Page Rank

This guide will teach you how to partner with reputable websites to bring up your page rank, find keywords to reach your market, and why blogging is important to double or triple your traffic in just weeks. Your website is only a few clicks away from mass exposure on the world wide web. Free!

Get Stumblin'

2007-08-16T14:18:00.000-07:00

Promowear Magazine, July/August 2007.

This months column sheds light on the web site StumbleUpon, which allows users to discover and share websites of interest. As a result other web surfers with interests to similar topics will no doubt StumbleUpon the shared web sites and reviews.

Enjoy this months column and visit StumbleUpon to begin stumbling the sites - and your sites - that can capture the attention of your target market.

MySpace: The Final Frontier

2007-06-16T15:18:00.000-07:00

Promowear Magazine, May/June 2007.

"Space... The final frontier..." To continue following up on my January/February column Opportunities For The New Year, welcome aboard the good ship Niche Marketing on its maiden voyage into MySpace.

Feel free to have a look at my Profile despite my Internet Marketing efforts being channeled through other areas of MySpace.

YouTube and You

2007-04-16T15:26:00.000-07:00

Promowear Magazine, March/April 2007.

What if I told you web sites such as YouTube and Google Video receive 20 million visitors or more monthly, watching 100 million or more video clips a day? Well, it’s true, and by exploring these sites one could establish a comparison of sorts to channel surfing, or how much time Americans are spending online vs listening to radio or watching TV.

This months column takes a look into Internet Video and the marketing opportunities it provides.

Below I have embedded a playlist from my YouTube Channel. These simple clips generate a steady stream of dart players to my dart shirts web site from YouTube on a regular basis.

Opportunities For The New Year

2007-01-16T15:59:00.000-08:00

Promowear Magazine, January/February 2007.

Once again a new year has arrived and the usual new marketing strategies, resolutions and goals that come with it are tasks at hand. For those entertaining the idea of starting an online presence this means having a clean slate to work with from the ground up. For those who already have a web site and existing online presence, it means looking for ways to improve its capabilities and expand to new levels of success.

They say hind sight is 20/20, so while last year seems like yesterday this months column takes a look at what 2006 brought to the table for online marketing ideas.

Off-Line Promotions

2006-12-16T16:05:00.000-08:00

Promowear Magazine, November/December 2006.

While businesses marketing their products and services on the World Wide Web tend to keep a steady focus on their overall online marketing plan, there is also an avenue that should not be overlooked. Marketing their online presence offline. This months column focuses on marketing your business off-line, while promoting your online presence within those efforts.

Dear Microsoft

2006-12-10T18:07:00.000-08:00

April 2004 - Dear Microsoft

After over 20 years in computer graphics technology, and being in a computer driven industry since 1992, I feel it is time to show my appreciation for all you do to make my life simple. As an experienced carpenter, I offer my services to build your dream home.

Your home would have all of the functions and features you have provided me over the years. For starters, I would install a Wizard. Your personal Wizard would constantly be in and around your home to help you with your daily life. For instance;

When you take out the garbage, the Wizard would put it back in another place in your home to make sure you take it out again.

When you flip a light switch, the Wizard will stop you and ask “Do you really want to turn that light on?”

When you put away your holiday decorations, the Wizard will take them back out and tell you “you have decorations waiting to be put away, what would you like to do? Put them away? Put them back up? Look at them?”

Anything you buy from the hardware store or Home Depot will not be compatible with your home unless I provided it to them in the first place. Anything you buy that is compatible will come with another few gizmos you don’t want that will make your home even less efficient.

When you turn on your television it will default to “My Channel”. No matter what channel you were previously watching. When you attempt to change the channel the Wizard will stand in front of the television and ask you if you want to watch TV, change the settings, browse TV listings, switch to the VCR or DVD, or of course login to AOL.

The Wizard only scratches the surface of the convenience involving your daily tasks. I would also put a big satilite dish on your roof with a giant blue and orange butterfly on it that receives only AOL broadcasts. If you try to take it down the Wizard will climb up and inform you that you cannot uninstall it. It will constantly be active and run up your electricity bill, and in some form lower the water pressure throughout the entire household. If you paint over the butterfly it will magically be back the next day.

When you put your car in the garage the Wizard will run out and open all the doors and the hood and ask you if you want the groceries taken out of the trunk, the oil changed, the windows washed or any fluids checked. Once informed of the proper action you will need to push the garage door button a minimum of three times in order to close the garage, as the Wizard will thoroughly interview you to make sure you really want it closed. If you did not make any changes to your car, you will be asked if he wants to remember the changes anyway.

Once again, I appreciate what you have done with your software to make my computer experience take less time, run less tasks and allow me to be as productive as possible.

"Rags"

Internet Fraud Awareness

2006-10-16T16:09:00.000-07:00

Promowear Magazine, September/October 2006.

Although my column is focused on Internet Marketing, this month I feel compelled to reach into my online experience and spread the warning and create awareness in regards to Internet fraud, as I still see even the most Internet savvy of people getting tricked these days.

Netiquette Part 3

2006-08-16T16:14:00.000-07:00

Promowear Magazine, July/August 2006.

In the first two installments of Netiquette, I covered all of the subtleties involved when communicating through email. In this final installment, we will explore other areas on the Internet where Netiquette would be expected.

Netiquette Part 2

2006-06-16T19:22:00.000-07:00

Promowear Magazine, May/June 2006.

In your last issue of Promowear we introduced some of the basic Netiquette that Internet users have come to expect from each other when communicating online. In this issue we will pick up where we left off and explore other areas of email where Netiquette is appreciated.

Netiquette Part 1

2006-04-16T19:25:00.000-07:00

Promowear Magazine, March/April 2006.

Growing up we are taught several manners, basic rules to live by and "etiquette" for good conduct and human behavior, often learning even more right on into adulthood. In the online community known as the Internet your manners and conduct are referred to as "Netiquette", defining the do's and dont's of online communication. Both common courtesy and simple expectations have been adopted by the Internet community as a whole over time and have become common practice. If you're doing business on the Internet, it is good to know how to fit in and represent yourself professionally online. This column will be the first in a three part series.